I am currently on the cusp of round 3 of the "Hodge Plague". By my estimations, the plague begin in our dorm somewhere in November. I was immune for several weeks, looking at those infected with pity and also with a sense of "thank god that's not me".
For those of you unfamiliar with said HP, it begins with a day or two of a scratchy throat and a moderate headache. In phase 2, the disease moves into the sinus cavity causing congested and/or runny nose. Phase 2 lasts for anywhere between 1 and 3 weeks before the final, and possibly worst, phase sets in. In phase 3, the disease creeps into the lungs lingering like the smell of leftovers sitting in a car too long. It makes its presence known in fits of coughing and lots of phlegm.
As I said, I avoided the HP as long as possible until it caught up with me about two weeks before the end of the semester. Fine, I thought, I'll get it over with in time for the holidays. Sure enough, it was over for Christmas, only to return for final exams after the holidays. Now, as I am poised for the new semester, I am feeling the symptoms again.
Many cures have been attempted: sleeping for weeks at a time, intense amounts of exercise to sweat it out, swallowing dayquil capsules like candy, and alcohol. Yet nothing but the slow march of time seems to work, which is why I am dreading my third fight with the HP.
The thing about me is, I don't enjoy being sick and yet, the 3 bouts of HP combined with one serious stomach virus have made this time at Seminary the sickest I have ever been. This phenomenon has forced me to retrace my steps and see where I could have gone wrong.
1. The dorm is a cesspool of germs. This is certainly true, and yet I am no stranger to dorms and close living quarters (you will recall I lived with 5 roommates in a trailer last year). This cannot be the option.
2. I work with kids who are carriers of all kinds of things. Also a good option, but if true why wouldn't the symptoms have set in sooner, say in September when the work began? Plus, I pretty much beat anything they can offer in the famous "Student Teaching Hospital Visit" of 2005. Clearly, I can take the kids.
3.The stress of moving and settling in here is getting to my body. Definitely not a possibility. If you know me, you know this is one of my longest stints anywhere.
4. This building is old, with old heat, old dust and old air. Lots of people have weird aversions to that kind of thing. Maybe I do too. However, I did live in a disaster zone last year where the air was full of spackle and dust, in old buildings in a polluted city 4 years before that, and NJ (need I say more?) 18 years before that.
Hmmm...
Is my body rejecting all the theology, faith and church history? Is the HP the demons' way of escaping my body?
I think not.
Perhaps in regards to number 4, the air here is actually TOO clean, TOO pure, and TOO wholesome. Could my sickened self be craving some action, something gritty to make it well again? Do I need to breathe air that is more diverse, more complicated, more in your face?
Then again, maybe I just need some OJ and a nap.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Bren, I feel for you. And I know exactly how you feel and how frustrating it is.
I got HP on Christmas Day, when my throat was so sore, my phlegm was bloody. I thought, ok, 4 people in my family were sick, I couldn't avoid it, at least I'll be healthy for my trip to Disney World (Jan 19-27). Not so much.
I expected it to last about 2 weeks. I had the symptoms as you presented them...sore throat, then the nasal stuff for 2 weeks. Had combinations of DayQuil and NyQuil every night. After 2 weeks I still wasn't feeling good, even though I was doing everything right - getting plenty of rest, drinking OJ, drinking tea, having tons of chicken noodle soup. I went to the doctor and was told I had tonsillitis. I got amoxicillan to kill the tonsillitis. 2 days later, I had ONE DAY where I felt good, and thought I was over it. Not so much. The stuffy nose came back, and the next day was chest congestion. And hard core congestion. Tons and tons of phlegm coming up. Then the worse part - the constant coughing where you feel the phlegm in your chest, but it doesn't come out. I try Mucinex DM, doesn't really help.
After coughing almost nonstop (so much that my neighbor above me called to check on me because he could hear me coughing) for an entire weekend, I went to the ER Sunday the 13th at midnight. I was given a chest x-ray (clear for pneumonia) and an abuterol inhaler. Not much improvement. They tell me I have bronchitis. They also gave me Tussionex (some cough syrup) and a prescription for the Z-Pak - a heavy duty antibiotic.
So I take the Z-Pak, but finds it gives me immediate diarrhea, and makes it so I have no appetite whatsoever. Not fun. I think it also brought on heavy duty depression too. Had to call out of work Monday and Tuesday. Worked on Wednesday but am miserable, can't eat, and have diarrhea. Called out again Thursday. Constant nausea, plus my throat is doing something where it gets really dry and makes me gag, perhaps this was post nasal drip? I take 5 of the 6 Z-Pak pills and am back at the doctor, because I'm throwing up now. This was Thursday the 17th. I'm told to stop the antibiotic. Thursday into Friday I can't sleep one wink. I go to work Friday hoping I'll feel better since I'm supposed to fly to Orlando on Saturday the 19th. Nope. I'm sick 3 times at work, with massive vomiting, with nothing in my stomach so it was a lot of dry heaves. I have to be driven home from work, and am so bad on Friday that a friend had to stay with me overnight. Wake up on Saturday, vomiting again at noon, have a couple of sips of water and move vomiting at 1pm. I'm told to get to the ER immediately.
I go to the ER, and get there at 3:45 feeling miserable. I can barely stand up and am white as a ghost. They take me in at 7:30pm. They take blood and urine and feed me 2 bags of IV fluid because I was so dehyrdated. Felt a little better after that. Get home around 12:30 am. Sunday, no more vomiting, but no appetite either. I weigh myself, and am down 15 pounds from my normal weight. No appetite on Monday either. I force myself to eat, using water to help swallow the food down. By Tuesday I'm actually hungry which was good. I eat a bit and decide I'm well enough to take my vacation, so I fly down to Orlando. Feeling better, but I can't sleep at all Tuesday into Wednesday and can barely sleep Wednesday into Thursday. The next 2 nights I'm forced to take Ambien just to sleep. Saturday into Sunday I have the same problem - not one minute of sleep. Plus, I'm having to urinate every 15 to 20 minutes. The plane ride back to Boston was not fun...felt a bit nauseous (didn't throw up) and had to urinate 3 times on the airplane.
I feel I'm about 95% now. I still have this uncomfortable feeling on the right side of my throat. Not a sore throat feeling, but just something that is concerning me. Can feel it when I swallow or try to sing. It's weird. I'm also a bit worried about why I'm not sleeping some nights, and why I'm having to urinate so much. I'm also concerned about some patches of itchy skin I have. I have yet another doctor's appointment on Friday morning, where I will bring up these concerns. I'm sure while I'm there I will pick up round 1 of this awful virus/disease/sickness again.
Thanks for listening and sorry this is so long!! Hope you feel better soon.
For what it's worth, all of the doctors I saw said this thing that's going around this year is BAD, and takes weeks, and even months to go away. 80% have it for 2 weeks, 15% have it for 5-6 weeks, and 5% have it for 3-4 months.
let's face it, you had the best roommate ever last year and now your whole body is mourning the fact that you don't get to see my smiling face every morning!
call me Ms. Master of Div.! I miss you and I need a more comprehensive update!
This entry is brilliantly written. I am glad to know you and will pray away your disease. Love forever,
LJ
Post a Comment