Sooner Than Expected

1:30AM and the morning person is up earlier than she'd like to be.

One of the protocols at my transplant center is if your temperature is 100 or above they must be called.  As I looked at the thermometer yesterday in trepidation I knew what I had to do. The cough is wreaking havoc and the temperature is up, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach I picked up the phone.

It's times like this I'm quickly reminded I am not a normal healthy person,  something a chronically ill or physically disabled person longs to be with every fiber of their being.  In day to day life, I can sometimes push it to the back of my memory,  to be hidden far away from reality.

During the call I was given the choice of coming to the hospital or starting antibiotics again.  With it being a 4 hr drive one way, I seriously did not feel well enough to drive and Larry was at work. I chose the antibiotics,  though a hospital stay and giving this Pseudomonas a strong kick to the curb is appealing.  So I waited all day, not that I felt like going anywhere, meds delivered, nurse accessed my port -here I go again.

With this happening more frequently I can't help but wonder if this is the start of "the long painful road home ". I vividly remember the first time I started that journey.  Many times I said, " chronic rejection was leagues worse than my original disease. Not that I have chronic rejection again, but one bad lung can make life miserable at times. With PPH I was short of breath, now I can't stop this painful deep cough.  I'm reminded of a scene in "The YaYa Sisterhood" where a line is " you made me think I was gonna cough up a lung " I was offended by it and they way they parodied those on oxygen,  but it's the one line I seem to remember.


I still have to make that long drive on Monday,  with an overnight bag just in case. (I haven't had to do that in 8 years!)
Fingers crossed,  no admission.
Drat! I forgot to ask if I could take Tylenol!

All-nighter

     Well I finally decided to get up after a long-long-sleepless night. My dilemma is due to a wonderful antibiotic called Levacquin. Levacquin is one of those "upper end" antibiotics, you know the kind. Designed to knock anything, and I mean anything out of you. I took only one, and trust me that is all anyone needs.
I was prepping for that dreaded dental work I have to endure later this morning..
      I realized yesterday evening the pain in my back was also one of those lovely side effects, which would have provided a great excuse from housework. Sweeping the floors was utterly a chore this time. Upon my realizing this, I began hoping and praying the excruciating headache would not appear. Wrong. It did appear, just as I was falling asleep, and has lasted me through the night. You know the type. If only I could get my head in one comfortable position long enough to fall asleep, kind of headache. Well tonight there was no comfortable position, because along with the headache, a distant cousin the stiff neck also came along for the journey. I remember when I had to take Levacquin for almost a  year, wondering when all the side effects would just go away...Far..Far...away. At one point I remember thinking (so sleep deprived), "Am I really awake, or dreaming I'm awake?" Either way I was so tired it really did'nt matter.
      So, after wondering; Could my blood sugar be making my insides feel all goofy?, or Can it all be this darling little pill? I decided enough was enough, a body can only be uncomfortable for so long. I got up. So here I sit, straight as can be, not moving my head. It hurts less when upright, so the rest of the night it will be so.
       Thankfully blood sugar is fine, so it must be the Levacquin. Darn. I am typing this as my coffee pot brews that wonderful life saving blood I so need today. Hopefully, even half-caff along with a Tylenol (yes I checked my temperature first) will alleviate this feeling that my head has been pile driven onto the cement a few too many times. On a more positive note: Maybe I can fall asleep in the dentists chair and not remember a thing... Here's hoping..