Thursday 2-16-12
BPD Day, the 6th of June...
Since my last post, there has been much craziness, but also much good news. I'll start with the good news and then recount the craziness. My insurance company sent me a letter almost 3 weeks ago to inform me that I have been approved for surgery! Yippee! A few days after that, Dr. Williams's office called to say that they had received the same letter and could schedule me as soon as I paid the program fee. All that was left was waiting for our income tax refund to hit the bank, and that happened this past weekend. So, yesterday I called the doctor's office, paid my fee and scheduled my surgery.
I will ever be able to explain how wonderfully supportive and understanding The Hubs has been about all of this, up to and including agreeing to spend our entire tax refund (and then some) to fund my surgery expenses not covered by insurance. I know he sees this as an investment in our future, as I do. And I know he wants me to be happy, healthy, to feel good and have energy so I can really enjoy my life and our time together. I am grateful beyond words for this man who is so generous and loving.
The craziness was another illness, worse than the one at Christmas. I developed a scorchingly sore throat and started feeling sick several days after my first Sunday night on call at the hospital. I had forgotten the lavalike pain that a serious sore throat could inflict. It felt like I had eaten gravel and sandpaper, washing them down with battery acid. My earliest chance to seek treatment was a visit the following Sunday morning to a local clinic, where I was examined, diagnosed with strep throat and given a prescription for a strong (1000 mg twice daily) regimen of amoxicillin. I did not report to the hospital for my scheduled clinical hours that day, instead going home, starting the medicine, drinking lots of liquids and sleeping as much as I wanted to. I did all the things a sick person is supposed to including going to the doctor and getting medicine.
Instead of improving, I just kept getting sicker. My tonsils abscessed, my sinuses bled, I fevered and sweated and...freaked out. I now refer to this bout as The Strep of Death. I ended up going to see my regular doctor that Wednesday. He asked me about my symptoms, checked ears and nose, and looked in my throat and said, "Oh, dear Lord!" That's never good. I had told him he needed to glove up before he examined me. He changed me from amoxicillin to levofloxacin and put me on house arrest for the rest of the week until the following Monday. Go home, go directly home, do not pass go, do not collect $200. A week's vacation went up in flames. A week of clinical hours for CPE vanished. But the change of medicine, and especially the restriction, proved to be exactly what I needed. I have to admit I'm still not completely 100% back to full Diva strength, but knock wood and Lord willing, I'm on my way.
