Thursday, January 10, 2019

'Tis The Season For Tissues, Cold Medicine, And Feeling Yucky


Last weekend, Lisa was feeling run down and had a little congestion. I knew at that point she was getting sick. When she gets sick, that's how it starts. On Monday, she had the chills, a headache, and her chest congestion got worse. That trend continued through Tuesday and Wednesday. This morning, I finally put my foot down.

"The moment your doctor's office opens, you call and get in. You look and sound like shit. It's getting worse everyday and it's all in  your chest. You don't want it to settle. You'll get pneumonia and end up in the hospital."

Lisa didn't put up a fight. She left for work and called her doctor when the office opened.

Thankfully, Lisa was able to get in early this afternoon.

She called me after her appointment. It wasn't good news.

Fever. Ear infections. And, the onset of bacterial pneumonia.

The doctor prescribed her 3 medications and told her not to take over the counter stuff. One of the medications is Prednisone.

Ugh.

Lisa has been on Prednisone 5 times in the last 2 years. When she was bitten by a tick and diagnosed with Lyme Disease twice, she was put on Prednisone each time for 30 days.

Then, when Lisa was hit with the nasty cold flu virus on 3 different occasions, she was prescribed a 7 day regimen of Prednisone.

Today makes it the 6th time.

I'll be the first to admit, the stuff works great. When Lisa gets really sick with a chest cold, Prednisone breaks it up and acts as an expectorant.

On the flip side, this steroid has 2 notably horrible side effects with Lisa.

The first, it makes her grumpy. It's like a ramped up version of PMS.

With the 7 day treatment, those symptoms aren't so bad. She's aware of the grumpiness. The past couple of times she's taken Prednisone, it hasn't been too unbearable.

The second, it causes continuous hunger. Lisa will eat and eat and eat and eat.

We usually joke about that side effect.

Today, in addition to work stuff, doing all the housework, cleaning and organizing the Bodacious DIY Dog Mom Project Workshop, baking homemade treats for our kids, and doing all of the meal prep, I made sure we had lots of healthy snacks available.

I prepped a ton of fresh vegetables, made my homemade dip, and made sure the healthy snacks like granola bars and popcorn were on the lower shelves in the snack cupboard.

I put the Greek yogurt and oranges on the top shelf in the refrigerator.

This weekend I'll be making a big crockpot of chicken noodle soup with lots of fresh veggies and garlic.

I'll be spending a copious amount of time putting my foot down and pointing to the sofa while demanding Lisa to sit and rest.

Lisa and I are both workers. We're very stubborn. We don't like to sit and rest for lengthy periods of time. When I'm sick, Lisa has to put her foot down and raise her voice too when telling me to rest.

Needless to say, the few small projects we wanted to get done over the weekend will be happening next weekend. And, we won't be escaping for a few hours on Saturday to run errands and grab a little lunch.

It's going to be a weekend of rest for Lisa.

Whether. She. Likes. It. Or. Not.


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