Thursday, February 22, 2018

UPDATE: Robert’s health deteriorated quickly from the time of my last posting. On Monday, he began running a low-grade fever in the evenings, and with the fever came incoherency and disorientation. Two evenings of temperatures of 101-102 plus and I was beginning to have some real concerns as to whether I should call 911 and get him taken into the emergency room of the local hospital. Finally, yesterday morning, I bit the bullet and after taking his temperature at 7:30 a.m. and finding it at 99+ deg., I called 911. A friend told me exactly what to say when I called, and I have to say how very grateful I am for her input. It worked just as she said it should, and I’m glad I made the call. They rehydrated him, did a chest x-ray, and ran tests on his kidney function (which came back abnormal). They also did a nasal swab to find out if what was going on was actually the flu. It was, and is — Type B Flu. When they sent him home, they instructed me to watch his fever and if it climbed to past 102.5 I was to call 911 and get him back into the hospital post haste. They would then move to plan B, which would be a scan of his brain and a spinal tap to look for other infections going on in his body.

I’m thinking that his abnormal kidney function has to be affecting his mental state. That, and the elevated temperature can’t be doing him any good.

We went to a new health insurance plan this January, and I wound up picking a doctor who was completely new to me. I knew no one with experience with him so was taking a chance, signing up in the blind, so to speak. I called last Friday to get an appt. and was told they had a walk-in clinic. Wonderful, I say, and decided to go in and have them take a look at my chest/breathing/cough. Long story short, I was put into an exam room almost as soon as I arrived and three hours later, the dr. came in under the mistaken impression that I was only there for medication refills. When I told him I’d been sick for four days, he said they had run out of flu vaccine and it wouldn’t do me much good at this point anyway because it had to be given in the first 48 hours of illness. He never looked down my throat, listened to my lungs or questioned that I might possibly be wrong about my self-diagnosis. I am prone to bronchitis and respiratory infections, and although what I had been suffering from may have begun as the flu, it had migrated to the known, ‘bronchitis’ in all its misery.

After the sad show of care at the new dr’s office, I called our insurance company and changed primary physicians — again. The change won’t be effective until March 1st, so we’re technically dead in the water until then. I’m tempted to go to one of those You-pay urgent care centers, however, just to get a prescription for an antibiotic. Since we do have health care insurance, I don’t know how this would work. The first is another week away, so I might just as well bite that bullet one more time and wait it out.

Neither of us has had the flu shot in recent recollection, as we didn’t really believe it helped all that much. We tended to stay out of crowds when flu viruses were being passed around. Better to practice prevention in the full sense of the word, stay away from those who are ill, wash your hands frequently, and try to steer clear of crowds. True to form, this year’s flu vaccine doesn’t touch the virus that’s being passed around, and so even if we had been vaccinated, we’d most likely be in the same place we are now. Though Robert has announced that this Fall, when they start promoting the flu vaccine, he is adamant that he will get vaccinated this time around. I’m still on the fence, but we shall see.

I have to admit that I must be getting just a tad better, as when I look at the quilt that’s sitting at my machine with the needle stuck through, waiting for me to start quilting again, I actually get a twinge of eagerness to be well once more so I can begin creating again. A few days ago I was so sick that I wanted to toss everything I owned in my art room as I didn’t think I’d ever regain my health to the point where I would want to create again. I’ve been THAT sick!

Time to close this up and say be safe, be well (PLEASE) and please be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them. If you don’t believe in the flu vaccine, at least take care and wash your hands frequently–sanitize the surfaces you touch–if you’re at the grocer’s, use those wipes they have on the stand just inside the door, and wipe down the handle of your grocery cart. Well, you know the drill — I don’t know how I messed up and acquired the virus… hoping Robert gets better very soon. I’m worried about him more than I am about me.