Bronchitis 8-30-09
Dear friends and family -
There is so much on my mind tonight that I am going to write a few separate entries so that if I get tired and have to go to bed before I finish all my thoughts it's easy to keep things separated.
The cold that I woke up with on the 16th of August morphed into a sinus infection....I went to the doctor and was put on Bactrim, and by the 4th day on Bactrim I was running a fever and feeling much worse. I thought, well, maybe this is the way it feels to get better - you have to get worse first. But when I was still running a fever and coughing by the 5th day and hadn't slept in many many days, I went back to the doctor and it was determined that the infection had moved from my sinuses into my lungs and I now had bronchitis. They put me Augmentin, which I hadn't heard of up until that point. It seems to have kicked the infection but I am still dealing with residual congestion and coughing....I just don't feel awful anymore.
Unfortunately, that 5th day and the first day of the new antibiotic was also the day that my sister Mo and her boyfriend "Philly Mike" (not to be confused with my "Brother Mike") flew in to Milwaukee and I picked them up and brought them to Chicago for the weekend. We had plans to go out and see my other brother Jake Greenwood's new band play on Friday night the 21st, but unfortunately I was just dramatically ill and knew that the whole weekend would be shot if I went out or stayed up late. Thankfully Mo and Philly Mike were very understanding (Mo has cared for me during many icky sick periods of time....bless her heart) and we just drove back to Chicago, put on our PJs, and watched my favorite episode of Dirty Jobs and went to bed.
I slept a teeny tiny bit that Friday night, and we took our time getting up and ready and leaving the house that Saturday. When we finally left the house, we grabbed some Chicago hotdogs and Philly Mike had the full Chicago dog - lettuce, tomato, pickles, mustard, celery salt, onions.... Then we ended up going to the Museum of Science and Industry for a couple of hours Saturday afternoon. We had a good time playing around with things and being silly - we learned a few things too but it was most fun when we were just being goofy. I love being with my sister (and Philly Mike too). I was feeling better, though I was experiencing some interesting dizziness as a side effect of the antibiotic. I still went through a ton of kleenex and coughed my lungs out all day.....
We stayed at the Museum until the closing of the day because we had bought tickets for a special exhibit - Harry Potter! They had a whole exhibit of costumes and props from the movies - it was amazing to see the tremendous detail that goes into the costumes and props. Maureen decided that she wants to be a set decorator or propmaster for the films. I was especially loving it because I am a huge Harry Potter book and movie fan, but Mo and Philly Mike haven't seen all the movies or read all the books so I had to explain things to them a bit....but I know they enjoyed it.
After the museum, I treated Mo and Philly Mike to Indian food in Chicago's Little India neighborhood, Devon Street. Some of you have had the pleasure of enjoying Indian food with me - some of you know that I learned all about what the best things to order are from my ex-boyfriend from college, Abhik Shah. If ever you want to try Indian food, I'm the right woman to order for you! They loved it and I loved it and we were pleasantly pleasantly satisfied, full, and sleepy when we got home. Unfortunately I had to be talked into giving myself my injection Saturday night - I was so sick that I didn't want to add to the situation by dealing wtih side effects, but Mo and Philly Mike convinced me it was the right thing to do. So inject I did....
And there was a lot of blood! More blood than I am used to - more blood than ever before. As I pulled the needle out it gushed blood and immediately bruised, so it was obvious that I had hit a blood vessel. Thankfully Mo was right there with a paper towel. I guess it's not uncommon to hit a blood vessel - but it's my first time! Unfortunately, it wasn't the last time either. (Last night I had the same thing happen on the other leg. I spoke with a nurse from the drug company and he said it really just happens that you hit a blood vessel and that the medication still goes in, so it's okay. But there's a lot of blood!)
I was feeling pretty rotten by that time so we visited for a little while longer and then I took my medicine for the side effects and went to bed.
I would have liked to have stayed in bed much longer on Sunday but I was coughing my lungs out again and didn't sleep more than a few spotty hours that night. I was pretty exhausted and a bit crabby on Sunday....but I tried to get through it.
We didn't eat lunch - just went down to Millennium Park so that the Beaner (Mo's nickname via my mother) could see the giant Bean, the jellybean-shaped sculpture in Millennium Park. Officially it's name is Cloud Gate, but no one calls it that. We then watched kids splashing around in the cool fountains down there. It was a lovely afternoon for it and we just enjoyed people-watching.
We had lunch/dinner around 5:30 at a place called Kuma's Corner - Mo and Philly Mike had heard about it through watching Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, or something like that, on the Food Network. The burgers are famous - and they are named after Heavy Metal bands and served by heavily tattooed and pierced servers. The place is pretty small for being so well-liked, so the wait was an hour and a half...this made me crabby, just cause I was sick and tired. I was also experiencing MUCH more dizziness from the medication. I got over it once we ate though - the burgers were awesome. I had the Motorhead burger - tzatziki, olives, and Greek seasoning. Mo had the Judas Priest, but I don't know what was on it...and Philly Mike had a pulled pork topping on his burger!
After dinner was the Pearl Jam concert at the United Center....that will be getting a separate blog entry....stay tuned!
Exhausted and elated we got to bed around 1 a.m. and had to get up at 7:30/8 so that I could drive Mo and Mike to the airport in Milwaukee in time (or rather, Mo drove there cause I had to drive back) for their flight and for me to go to work. Tuesday was the first day I started to feel better, and I think it was also the last day on antibiotics. Managed to get through the week and am feeling better....just not completely healthy.
I rested all weekend, glued to my tv and Target....back to work tomorrow....
On to the next entry....
lots of love,
Kate
There is so much on my mind tonight that I am going to write a few separate entries so that if I get tired and have to go to bed before I finish all my thoughts it's easy to keep things separated.
The cold that I woke up with on the 16th of August morphed into a sinus infection....I went to the doctor and was put on Bactrim, and by the 4th day on Bactrim I was running a fever and feeling much worse. I thought, well, maybe this is the way it feels to get better - you have to get worse first. But when I was still running a fever and coughing by the 5th day and hadn't slept in many many days, I went back to the doctor and it was determined that the infection had moved from my sinuses into my lungs and I now had bronchitis. They put me Augmentin, which I hadn't heard of up until that point. It seems to have kicked the infection but I am still dealing with residual congestion and coughing....I just don't feel awful anymore.
Unfortunately, that 5th day and the first day of the new antibiotic was also the day that my sister Mo and her boyfriend "Philly Mike" (not to be confused with my "Brother Mike") flew in to Milwaukee and I picked them up and brought them to Chicago for the weekend. We had plans to go out and see my other brother Jake Greenwood's new band play on Friday night the 21st, but unfortunately I was just dramatically ill and knew that the whole weekend would be shot if I went out or stayed up late. Thankfully Mo and Philly Mike were very understanding (Mo has cared for me during many icky sick periods of time....bless her heart) and we just drove back to Chicago, put on our PJs, and watched my favorite episode of Dirty Jobs and went to bed.
I slept a teeny tiny bit that Friday night, and we took our time getting up and ready and leaving the house that Saturday. When we finally left the house, we grabbed some Chicago hotdogs and Philly Mike had the full Chicago dog - lettuce, tomato, pickles, mustard, celery salt, onions.... Then we ended up going to the Museum of Science and Industry for a couple of hours Saturday afternoon. We had a good time playing around with things and being silly - we learned a few things too but it was most fun when we were just being goofy. I love being with my sister (and Philly Mike too). I was feeling better, though I was experiencing some interesting dizziness as a side effect of the antibiotic. I still went through a ton of kleenex and coughed my lungs out all day.....
We stayed at the Museum until the closing of the day because we had bought tickets for a special exhibit - Harry Potter! They had a whole exhibit of costumes and props from the movies - it was amazing to see the tremendous detail that goes into the costumes and props. Maureen decided that she wants to be a set decorator or propmaster for the films. I was especially loving it because I am a huge Harry Potter book and movie fan, but Mo and Philly Mike haven't seen all the movies or read all the books so I had to explain things to them a bit....but I know they enjoyed it.
After the museum, I treated Mo and Philly Mike to Indian food in Chicago's Little India neighborhood, Devon Street. Some of you have had the pleasure of enjoying Indian food with me - some of you know that I learned all about what the best things to order are from my ex-boyfriend from college, Abhik Shah. If ever you want to try Indian food, I'm the right woman to order for you! They loved it and I loved it and we were pleasantly pleasantly satisfied, full, and sleepy when we got home. Unfortunately I had to be talked into giving myself my injection Saturday night - I was so sick that I didn't want to add to the situation by dealing wtih side effects, but Mo and Philly Mike convinced me it was the right thing to do. So inject I did....
And there was a lot of blood! More blood than I am used to - more blood than ever before. As I pulled the needle out it gushed blood and immediately bruised, so it was obvious that I had hit a blood vessel. Thankfully Mo was right there with a paper towel. I guess it's not uncommon to hit a blood vessel - but it's my first time! Unfortunately, it wasn't the last time either. (Last night I had the same thing happen on the other leg. I spoke with a nurse from the drug company and he said it really just happens that you hit a blood vessel and that the medication still goes in, so it's okay. But there's a lot of blood!)
I was feeling pretty rotten by that time so we visited for a little while longer and then I took my medicine for the side effects and went to bed.
I would have liked to have stayed in bed much longer on Sunday but I was coughing my lungs out again and didn't sleep more than a few spotty hours that night. I was pretty exhausted and a bit crabby on Sunday....but I tried to get through it.
We didn't eat lunch - just went down to Millennium Park so that the Beaner (Mo's nickname via my mother) could see the giant Bean, the jellybean-shaped sculpture in Millennium Park. Officially it's name is Cloud Gate, but no one calls it that. We then watched kids splashing around in the cool fountains down there. It was a lovely afternoon for it and we just enjoyed people-watching.
We had lunch/dinner around 5:30 at a place called Kuma's Corner - Mo and Philly Mike had heard about it through watching Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, or something like that, on the Food Network. The burgers are famous - and they are named after Heavy Metal bands and served by heavily tattooed and pierced servers. The place is pretty small for being so well-liked, so the wait was an hour and a half...this made me crabby, just cause I was sick and tired. I was also experiencing MUCH more dizziness from the medication. I got over it once we ate though - the burgers were awesome. I had the Motorhead burger - tzatziki, olives, and Greek seasoning. Mo had the Judas Priest, but I don't know what was on it...and Philly Mike had a pulled pork topping on his burger!
After dinner was the Pearl Jam concert at the United Center....that will be getting a separate blog entry....stay tuned!
Exhausted and elated we got to bed around 1 a.m. and had to get up at 7:30/8 so that I could drive Mo and Mike to the airport in Milwaukee in time (or rather, Mo drove there cause I had to drive back) for their flight and for me to go to work. Tuesday was the first day I started to feel better, and I think it was also the last day on antibiotics. Managed to get through the week and am feeling better....just not completely healthy.
I rested all weekend, glued to my tv and Target....back to work tomorrow....
On to the next entry....
lots of love,
Kate
posted by Kate @ 10:05 PM
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