My friends and family amaze me.
Over the past few weeks I have really come to experience the graciousness and goodness of people. I have been humbled. I thought that my husband and I were generally giving and thoughtful, but the things that people have done for us out of the goodness of their hearts recently have been nothing less than direct gifts from the hands of God to us. I have always tried to see what I can do to help when someone is going through something. Even at work I try to make it a habit to ask my coworkers what they need. What amazes me about the things that have been done for me is simply that these people didn't wait to ask what we needed. They just looked and saw what needed done, and did it. What a difference that is.
We have had neighbors and friends come and take the kids for some special time out. We've had people show up at our door with meals all ready for the oven or freezer...whatever we needed. We've had phone calls of encouragement from both people that we're close to as well as people we haven't talked to in years. We've recieved gifts to help with groceries so we wouldn't have to figure all that out. Not to mention the cards, flowers, and people visiting me in the hospital. I'm overwhelmed by what everybody has done.
My son said to me, "Wow Mom! A lot of people care about you!" That was what I was thinking to myself exactly. I will never forget this. Thank you to you all!
Now I have some Thank You notes to write. Seems so small of a gesture in comparison. I pray that God will bless you all for what you have given.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Flu Gone WAY Wrong?
I daresay a touch of drama thrown into my life over the past weeks was necessary…especially to give me blog-writing material…but mostly to throw a blatant detour into what I thought was the rut of my life. Holy cow! Have I come to some awakenings! Many of my friends have graciously come to my aid, and have asked for an explanation of what happened to me so I’ll try to sum it up.
On October 8, I suddenly came down with a very high fever...which was not so uncommon in the middle of a mass-media exposed frenzied flu season with everyone believing that one cough is a sign of doom from dreaded H1N1. It’s the flu, right? It’s all just the flu, just like any other season. So we’ll just get over it. And I did. Sort of. The fever lasted a couple of days, and then I had an annoying cough…that wouldn’t go away. But again, typical for the flu. I was working and carrying out my responsibilities just fine…but the cough persisted and was getting worse. My husband told me to go to the doctor. My friends at work were no doubt annoyed by my hacking all the time. But, any day I expected to wake up and find myself well. I have an immune system of steel. I even got the H1N1 vaccine after the fact (even though I really wasn’t feeling very well. Probably not the best of plans.)
Finally, October 27, the cough got bad enough that I heeded my husband’s word, threw in the towel, and went to see Dr. Zoglo. “You look a little short of breath,” he noted. “Yes,” I agreed, really coming to that admission only just that instant. “You’re really wheezy…even in the front,” he noted as he listened to my lungs. OK….so antibiotics and an inhaler. Done. Get on with life. Unfortunately, it persisted, and I found myself counting the minutes until I could use the inhaler again, and again. I got a lot of comments like: “Janette are you OK?” “Janette you sound horrible!” I would have violent coughing fits at work and miss responsibilities. I became forgetful and out of focus. But I went to choir practice anyway on November 4, and left coughing worse than ever…in my life. Back to the doctor on November 5.
I sat on the exam table breathing like I just ran up the stairs. Wheezing. Exhausted. My pulse 115. “OK, I think let’s take you off work for a couple of days and start some Prednisone. “ He changed my antibiotic. But the Prednisone got my attention. That’s pretty major medication for a healthy young woman to have to take. I knew of my father-in-law’s struggles with it and it scared me. But somewhat relieved by the excuse to rest, I called into work, and went to bed. But I couldn’t lay down without gasping for air or having another violent coughing fit. All I could do was sit up on the couch and cough, and gasp. I couldn’t speak a full sentence without getting winded. But still in denial, I told my husband to bring me a load of laundry to fold on the bed. With just the activity of moving my arms back and forth, I went into a full-blown asthma attack. The inhaler only worked for minutes. My breathing sounded like a saw on wood. At just after midnight, I gasped to my husband that I was driving myself to the hospital. (OK, he didn’t let me drive myself.) We woke a friend to stay with the kids, and left with me insisting he drive me to the hospital where I worked even though it was further away than another one…but really…it was worth the extra 10 minutes.
“What are they going to do for you?” my husband asked not knowing what to expect. “They’ll probably just give me a nebulizer treatment and send me home.” Well, wrong. They admitted me immediately. I was shocked.
They ran tests for everything from H1N1 to Pertussis; from chest X-rays for Pneumonia to CT Scans for sinus issues and lung masses. They tested me for blood clots in my lungs because my blood tests came up positive for the possibility. (They scared my husband to death!) All turned out negative. The question: Why would an otherwise healthy woman have such a marked reaction to having the flu? The answer: inconclusive unfortunately. It took me four days of IV steroids and constant nebulizer treatments to turn the corner, and another day and a half to convert to medications by mouth. I was shockingly weakened (to my own eyes at least.) I was…..(ugh….)….incontinent from the forceful cough (don’t act so surprised…it’s a gift of remembrance for many a postpartum mothers.) I couldn’t believe that…I…a healthy nurse for crying out loud…was in that position! It was fantastically surreal.
And now, a week after being discharged, I have been amazed and frustrated at how long it has taken me to gain my strength back. But nevertheless, I have made improvement enough that I can do some things around the house…and sit here and write. I still do not have the clearance from my doctor to go back to work…which I’m sure is hard for my co-workers to understand…it’s hard for me to understand…and I leave them working short.
I have a lot of other thoughts and things to mention that I will write in separate posts. I’ve learned some things from this. I’m anticipating some changes from all this. I have been blessed by my friends and family and owe a huge thank-you to all of them because of all this. So be expecting more to come.
On October 8, I suddenly came down with a very high fever...which was not so uncommon in the middle of a mass-media exposed frenzied flu season with everyone believing that one cough is a sign of doom from dreaded H1N1. It’s the flu, right? It’s all just the flu, just like any other season. So we’ll just get over it. And I did. Sort of. The fever lasted a couple of days, and then I had an annoying cough…that wouldn’t go away. But again, typical for the flu. I was working and carrying out my responsibilities just fine…but the cough persisted and was getting worse. My husband told me to go to the doctor. My friends at work were no doubt annoyed by my hacking all the time. But, any day I expected to wake up and find myself well. I have an immune system of steel. I even got the H1N1 vaccine after the fact (even though I really wasn’t feeling very well. Probably not the best of plans.)
Finally, October 27, the cough got bad enough that I heeded my husband’s word, threw in the towel, and went to see Dr. Zoglo. “You look a little short of breath,” he noted. “Yes,” I agreed, really coming to that admission only just that instant. “You’re really wheezy…even in the front,” he noted as he listened to my lungs. OK….so antibiotics and an inhaler. Done. Get on with life. Unfortunately, it persisted, and I found myself counting the minutes until I could use the inhaler again, and again. I got a lot of comments like: “Janette are you OK?” “Janette you sound horrible!” I would have violent coughing fits at work and miss responsibilities. I became forgetful and out of focus. But I went to choir practice anyway on November 4, and left coughing worse than ever…in my life. Back to the doctor on November 5.
I sat on the exam table breathing like I just ran up the stairs. Wheezing. Exhausted. My pulse 115. “OK, I think let’s take you off work for a couple of days and start some Prednisone. “ He changed my antibiotic. But the Prednisone got my attention. That’s pretty major medication for a healthy young woman to have to take. I knew of my father-in-law’s struggles with it and it scared me. But somewhat relieved by the excuse to rest, I called into work, and went to bed. But I couldn’t lay down without gasping for air or having another violent coughing fit. All I could do was sit up on the couch and cough, and gasp. I couldn’t speak a full sentence without getting winded. But still in denial, I told my husband to bring me a load of laundry to fold on the bed. With just the activity of moving my arms back and forth, I went into a full-blown asthma attack. The inhaler only worked for minutes. My breathing sounded like a saw on wood. At just after midnight, I gasped to my husband that I was driving myself to the hospital. (OK, he didn’t let me drive myself.) We woke a friend to stay with the kids, and left with me insisting he drive me to the hospital where I worked even though it was further away than another one…but really…it was worth the extra 10 minutes.
“What are they going to do for you?” my husband asked not knowing what to expect. “They’ll probably just give me a nebulizer treatment and send me home.” Well, wrong. They admitted me immediately. I was shocked.
They ran tests for everything from H1N1 to Pertussis; from chest X-rays for Pneumonia to CT Scans for sinus issues and lung masses. They tested me for blood clots in my lungs because my blood tests came up positive for the possibility. (They scared my husband to death!) All turned out negative. The question: Why would an otherwise healthy woman have such a marked reaction to having the flu? The answer: inconclusive unfortunately. It took me four days of IV steroids and constant nebulizer treatments to turn the corner, and another day and a half to convert to medications by mouth. I was shockingly weakened (to my own eyes at least.) I was…..(ugh….)….incontinent from the forceful cough (don’t act so surprised…it’s a gift of remembrance for many a postpartum mothers.) I couldn’t believe that…I…a healthy nurse for crying out loud…was in that position! It was fantastically surreal.
And now, a week after being discharged, I have been amazed and frustrated at how long it has taken me to gain my strength back. But nevertheless, I have made improvement enough that I can do some things around the house…and sit here and write. I still do not have the clearance from my doctor to go back to work…which I’m sure is hard for my co-workers to understand…it’s hard for me to understand…and I leave them working short.
I have a lot of other thoughts and things to mention that I will write in separate posts. I’ve learned some things from this. I’m anticipating some changes from all this. I have been blessed by my friends and family and owe a huge thank-you to all of them because of all this. So be expecting more to come.
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