Sunday, July 13, 2014

Felled by P's

Where did June go?  Where did half of July go?  Prednisone, pleurisy, pertussis, plague -- I've been felled by the P's.

Shortly after landing in the U.S., I was hacked by vicious hacking.  No one knows what it is, but I have many companions.  I'm in the lucky fifth week.  Craig took two weeks to kick it, probably because he can usually kick the flu in three days.  Three rounds of antibiotics, two rounds of prednisone, various inhalers, cough medicine with codeine, breathing treatments at Urgent Care,  and I'm still whooping.  On a visit to my regular doctor on Tuesday, he noticed the telltale pain of pleurisy and ordered up another round from the pharmacy.

At a memorial service on Thursday, Craig visited with a fellow cougher.  His doctor at Urgent Care diagnosed it as possible pertussis/whooping cough/100 day cough . . . .   (I got the female doctor at Urgent Care with asthma who told me I had chronic asthma.)

So pleurisy, pertussis, or whatever the hell it is, BE GONE!  

Until then, I'm like a sleeping dog on the pavement.


Too pooped to post.



Some have suggested maybe alcohol could kill it!  Hmmmmmmmm???  (If that really worked, nobody around here would be sick.)



7 comments:

Kay said...

100 Day Cough? Yuck. Hope you feel better soon.

Babs said...

I got whooping cough 5 years ago in Colorado. 169 people died from it in Colorado that year - luckily not me.
It is very easy to diagnose with a blood test and you can go on a website and hear the cough!
It is VERY dangerous. I lost so much weight because I couldn't keep anything down and only had cough drops for almost 4 months. There is no treatment for it. Teachers in Texas now must get the DPT booster to prevent getting whooping cough. It is a national health crisis! Seriously, I spent a week in the hospital. The only thing that stopped the coughing was morphine! Take care - good luck. REST and use apple cider vinegar and honey to ease the cough slightly.......

Life's a Beach! said...

Thanks Kay. Babs,I read up on it this morning after Craig mentioned it. I had my last DPT booster no more than 6 years ago, but I read that doesn't necessarily protect you. I'll be talking to my doc to see what he thinks. I've got the codeine cough syrup and that brings relief. Ugh. Hopefully, that's not what this is, but lots of people around here are in the same boat and still coughing after a month. I just read it's epidemic in California right now. I have a feeling this will be the lost summer.

Janet said...

Becky sorry to hear of all your problems. Take care and hopefully you are on the mend.

isladeb said...

Sorry to hear about this. Hope you're feeling better soon!

stillhowlyn said...

Well crap! Hope you're better by now. Those Ps sound pesty indeed!!

Diane Daniel said...

Have you been tested for valley fever? It is epidemic in Arizona now but for some reason many Doctors don't seem to test for it until they have exhausted all other options. When my Dad first got it he coughed non stop. He had the chronic version - as soon as he went off the fluconosole it would flare right back up and he ended up being on the meds for the rest of his life. A normal case of it lasts days but for some people it can be much more severe and long lasting.