This is a short follow-up to yesterday’s health post. If you haven’t read it yet, it includes the words partially-collapsed lung.
I get sick very easily. I was a sickly child. I was a sickly teenager. And I am a sickly adult.
When I was a kid we blamed it on my tonsils. As I grew older, and my tonsils were removed, they were still blamed because I have a weak immune system… or something like that. What it comes down to is that if the weather changes, if there’s a bug going around, if there’s a high pollen count, if I hear a story about someone having a cold… I am going to get sick.
So, you have to understand that my getting a severe head cold overnight didn’t surprise me. That one day later I was miserable just irritated me. I didn’t start to get concerned until I was downing antihistamines with Nyquil every few hours. When I went through a week’s worth of antihistimines in three days, I was a little shocked. I couldn’t breathe, my nose wouldn’t stop running, and my sinus headache was killing me. But I wasn’t really concerned.
I get sick a lot.
It wasn’t until yesterday morning when I was doubled over the bathroom sink, trying desperatly to stop my nosebleed that I realized that maybe it was more than just a cold. Until then I honestly thought I was going in to work. (By the way, the nosebleed was from blowing my nose so much.)
I have a sinus infection and an upper respiratory infection. My doctor gave me a prescription that included six separate items that are expected to take me through the next week and a half.
And, oh yeah, I have a partially-collapsed lung.
And I’m sitting here, concentrating on the fact that I can breathe easier than yesterday, trying to convince myself not to overreact. I can’t do anything about the lung until the infection is over. Unless I get worse, I’m not going to dwell.
Then I am going to get a second opinion. Or several dozen of them.
