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I’m a cougher. And I’ve had a lot of respiratory infections, viral and bacterial. I’ve often wondered how my parents can still love me after the nights I’ve subjected them to.
And yes, having coughing fits where you just can’t stop and where the phlegm is flying (or you wish it were) is pretty much unpleasant, especially when you’re sick and your ribs are on fire.
But my roommate is in this exact state right now, and I’ve learned that listening to someone cough like that is about 1000X worse than being the one who is coughing like that. I feel so terrible for her, and everytime she starts I think “is she ok, can she breathe, that must hurt etc”. It makes me really really nervous and uneasy.
In the midst of a real, true coughing fit, you really have no control over the reflex, yet it’s your body and something about that makes it feel like you are in control. When it’s someone else, it makes me worry, and I think that they can’t possibly be ok. It’s not that the noise bothers me, but I do find it very hard to listen to.
So, sorry all you people who have endured my coughing, I had no idea!
I had a phonecall from my maman and an email from my papa today, both urging me to get my H1N1 vaccine. It warmed my heart a little that they are thinking of me even though I’m out of sight. My question is this: should I go get the shot even though I’m as certain as you can be (without lab testing) that I already HAD H1N1 back in June?
Phew, it was one of those long days!
This first bit may be too much information for you, if you don’t wanna know about what comes out of my lungs, do not read on. So I was standing around in the kitchen at breakfast, eating an orange while talking to my roommate, when suddenly I inhale some of the juice and start to choke. After the startling bit is over, I continue to cough a little bit. And then. Then I had this sudden massive rumbling cough, and I coughed up like a whole mouthful of thick but sort of fluffly white phlegm. Taken aback, it took me a moment to realize how freaking good that felt. So I encouraged the coughing for a few minutes and was able to clear some more. And for the next few hours I was on a cloud.
It’s a good thing I was on a cloud because I had a class, then a midterm. The cellular physiology midterm went super well. It was a bit on the easy side but whatever I could use a bit of easy amid my courses!! Next I had my massive Monday lab, which didn’t turn out to be too bad. By the end of it I was starting to feel tight and I could really feel it on my walk home. I was kind of grumpy about that because I thought I had fixed my lungy problem with this morning’s phlegm fiasco. I got home and made dinner and sucked on some ventolin.
I went back to school because there was an info session for next year’s honours projects. Even though I was feeling tight still, I brought my pool stuff for after because I had planned on a swim today. Of course the fact that I brought my swim stuff meant that I absolutely had to go to the pool, so I did. I love being in the pool, but I had to get out after 8 laps because I just wasn’t feeling it, I was too tight. Sooooo I came home, which is where I am now.
The lungs are being not very nice this evening, and I don’t know why. I wish they would get over themselves. Grr. It’s not a huge deal, and I’m not concerned about it, but it’s a little much for running or swimming.
The 5 km vs. 10 km debate is still not settled. People have not been very warm on the 10 km idea at all. And now I don’t feel so good so it’s harder to think a 10 km is realistic. I guess I really do have until Sunday to decide.
Monday is my worst day scedule-wise, so now the rest of the week is looking pretty peachy!
So, the past 2 nights I’ve been coughing quite a lot. I don’t know what’s up but it’s not really that unusual. I have been really good and brave about telling my roommate about my asthma, so she definitely knows. BUT, when I woke up yesterday morning, she was convinced I had bronchitis. I had to convince her that those are just my “normal” nighttime sounds and that I’m not sick whatsoever. She believes me now so it’s all good. I figure it’ll take a few sessions of letting her know about what my normal and not normal is. That’s totally OK.
Me and my roommate are getting along really well, I’m so happy and relieved. We have similar interests and are the same way about how we like our living space (CLEAN and study-friendly!). We’ve gone out a couple times together and I’ve really enjoyed myself and all is good. We have another roommate who is a guy. As far as I can tell, he does nothing but facebook and is not in school but he doesn’t disturb the peace and that’s all I really care about. I’m really happy with my current living situation, as you can probably tell from my posts. It’s ALL good : )
I’m bored and starting to feel like a slacker and since I don’t feel like poo anymore I would really like to go to work today. If I worked anywhere else, I probably wouldn’t think twice about it. I still have a wicked cough though and that’s the problem. I mean, a hospital is a very confined space, especially for the inpatients and I need to think about the fact that I share a cafeteria and elevator with oncology and transplant patients and all kinds of kids for whom this sort of infection would be catastrophic. I mean, it’s not like I’m serving them lunch or wiping their noses or anything but STILL. You can never be too careful when these things spread so readily. The other thing is that bacteria have DNA too and say if I coughed over my reaction and then accidentally amplified some bacterial DNA, or even my own DNA from my aerosolized saliva (ew, I know), my results would be totally screwed. Yes, that actually is a real concern. Damn science, why you gotta be so finicky??
Anyway, if I got my mom to drop me off, then used the staff basement entrance, wore a nerdy surgical mask while experimentin’ and used hand sanitizer ten times an hour, went outside for lunch instead of to the cafeteria and then exited again by the basement entrance, I could justify going in today, and I might just get some work done. I’ll see if my mom says yes.
Ok I think I’m truly on the mend people! Not like yesterday where I faked myself out in the afternoon and then spiked a fever before bed and felt like crap again. I tried to walk around the block with my sister this afternoon which proved to be disastrous for the lungs. My peak flows are so atrocious I won’t even tell you what percent I’m at but the point is that I can feel the sicky feeling lifting. Hurray hurray. HURRAY.
We had huge hailstorm this afternoon, typical June. I wouldn’t have wanted to be caught out on a bicycle at that point let me tell you! My sis and I filmed it just for good measure. I was going to put up the video but the file kept getting lost in my computer and it’s just as well because we were being very ridiculous. Typical us.
And finally, I must pick your brains: do you know a good way to relieve pain in the ribs caused by excessive strain (read: coughing?) Other than Tylenol, I mean. It’s not my lungs that are hurting like in pleurisy, just my intercostal muscles. Peace!
Well I guess I’d better fess up: I’m sick. I went in to work on Monday but stayed home yesterday and today. I might have gone in if I didn’t work in a CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL filled with sick kids and their vulnerable immune systems and if everybody wasn’t so jumpy about H1N1. Oh yeah, and nobody wants to listen to my disgusting coughing, I always seem to forget this very true fact. By the way, I am 500% certain that I don’t have H1N1, it’s just the regular old chest cold that I seem to get every single time I come home from university. Oh yeah, and what’s up with that? How come I get sick whenever I come home? Apart from the obvious, which would be that I just worked myself into the ground for the past month to get through exams.
Anywhooo. While coughing up crazy stuff is taking up a large proportion of my time, I am also finding myself to be very bored. What shall I do today? Besides eat the peanut butter cookies my sister made, I mean.
As you probably know, I am wrapping up another course of prednisone to tide me through this viral infection. As you also know, I along with most people dread taking said prednisone. However, I don’t think I dread it as much as I used to, thanks to the nifty tricks I have picked up while on the stuff. I will share them, but I’m not endorsing them per seeee. S’just what works for me
1) ROLAIDS. Seriously, I probably overdo it with these but my doctor suggested it to deal with the nausea. I always pick up a pack along with my pred prescription.
2) Prednisone comes in 50 mg pills or 5 mg pills. My doctor awesomely started prescribing 10 5 mg pills a day instead of the one 50 mg. This way I can split them up between breakfast and dinner. It’s worth asking your doc if you have trouble. (I take them all in one shot on the first day though)
3) I KNOW it says this right on the bottle, but eat it with a big meal. Like, really big. Some milk to wash it down doesn’t hurt either. And I always try not to go for too long on an empty stomach either because it makes me feel plain yucky. Bedtime snacks help too. Really…
And while i have learned to tame my stomach when on prednisone, I have yet to figure out what to do about the mood swings. I can feel positively manic sometimes and it drives me bonkers. So if YOU have any tricks for that, then do let me know!
I had a pretty good day today. I skipped going to the library because I’m coughing like crazy and I feel self-conscious especially when it’s so quiet. Instead I went home during my long break and collapsed in my bed (Note to self: time to cut down on the napping!!). I then made myself some delicious pasta for lunch and went back to school. I actually quite enjoyed my 2 afternoon classes (music theory and biochem).
I do have one teensy rant for today. Why show up to a biochem lecture if you are just going to play mah-jong on your laptop and not write a single thing down or even look up at the slides? Come on now.
