Things have been – are still – not quite right. I’m being polite. I’ll be (somewhat) brief, I think. For the first time ever, I had a super severe reaction to the local high pollen count. Not the typical watery eyes, sneezing, etc. type stuff. Oh no, my body chose to go all out. It started with a mildly irritating spot in the back of the right side of my throat, and from there, went into an earache. K, I can handle that – but the next phase was pretty scary, to put it mildly. My throat swelled. From one carotid artery to the other – sort of looked like I had this huge goiter under my chin.
Fortunately, it didn’t really affect my breathing – but I couldn’t swallow. I was unable to eat for a week (I didn’t miss food at all, and although I don’t recommend the method, I did loose around 20 pounds. *grins*) After 4 days with nothing to drink – and now running a fever of 102.2, I knew I was heading into dehydration; was very weak, light headed, exhausted but unable to sleep more then 1-3 hours, and my urine was extremely dark and concentrated – another sure sign of dehydration. I knew I needed to get into the ER, be checked – but also wasn’t sure I could safely drive myself the 2 blocks there. So, Spring stopped by for a visit and took me to the ER. I was put on antibiotics (fever means infection in the doc’s eyes, even though my white blood cell count barely registered above normal.) He (doc) said no way on allergy, couldn’t be – because you don’t run a fever with an allergy. Huh?
I had the first symptom on a Wednesday, realized the pollen was extremely high (weather had finally sunk into my head) on Saturday and shut the house up and put the air on. After around 6 hours, I was able to sip a little liquid – drank maybe a half ounce throughout that day. But I’m a dog owner, so still had to go outside several times a day, to potty the dogs. So Sunday is when Spring stopped over and took me to hospital. I began my antibiotics on Monday – pharmacy was closed by the time Spring tried to drive me there on Sunday (7pm), so I took myself on Monday. Also, since my sleep cycle was so screwed – awake for 3-4 hours, sleep for 1-3 hours, I was able to pretty much stay indoors during the day and high pollen time, and mainly take the dogs out at night… they seemed to know I was feeling ill, stayed real close to me. Around Tuesday evening, I noticed the swelling was down quite a bit, and was thrilled to be able to drink a whole 20 oz bottle of water – even though it took me all day and part of the night. Wednesday I was able to handle broth, so had a cup with me all the time… Spring also came over – she and JJ had split up. (Not going into that – it’s like deja vu from when she split with Johnny, a few years back. The world is all wrong and poor JJ is being picked on for being perfect. Uh-huh.)
Well, with Spring & the baby here, my sleep schedule has been totally screwed. I had been taking naps, gathering my strength. That came to a screeching halt. Spring wanting to stay up till all hours – talking about how none of this is poor, perfect JJ’s fault, and watch movies – made sleeping at night an impossibility. So, the swelling is finally gone. I’m able to drink again, and can now also eat – although softer foods are still the best (yogurt, mainly.) But I am eating some of my former veggie meals now, too. I’m getting very little sleep, so exhaustion is still a major part of my days – I need to be up and alert, to make sure Destiny doesn’t play/break S’s network system, entertainment system, etc. She was taught it’s okay and fun to hit the screen of a big screen tv, and she wants to turns the dials on the surround sytem and all those blinking lights on the router (etc.) just begs to be played with… *sighs*
Last night, Spring said she ‘couldn’t stay up all night anymore, Mama.’ Hell, I’ve been telling her since she got here – I need more sleep, I’m still healing! After the 11 o’clock news, I got ready for bed – she was planning on watching movies; I told her I was going to bed, I was tired, very very tired. She and Destiny kept the tv up fairly loud, think I was finally able to fall asleep around 1am or so. Had set my alarm so I could have some quiet, private time – but needed more sleep. Slept till 10am. House was blissfully quiet – for 20 minutes. *sighs* I’m sorry – I want my house back.