I saw a MD. I was wheezing terribly, and left the office with scripts for a steroid burst and a PRN inhaler. Well, after three days of the medicine, and nothing but the bed in my life, I was still no better this morning, and may have in fact been a little worse. I got up to go to the restroom and got so winded that I had to stop and take a break. Bad stuff. I'm an RT. I know this. So I had no choice but to call in again today, which completely screws with my planned vacation days next week in time for finals. Not very happy about that at all, but oh well. Well, after the bathroom incident, I thought it would be best if I got a chest x-ray, so I trudged to the ER. Turns out I have an "atypical pneumonia" that resulted from a stint that was indeed our friend influenza. So now I can add antibiotics to the roster of meds.
But wait! There is one more. I started Chantix. Yes, I did it. I was honest with the doctor that I smoke, and that, yes, I do want to quit very much. I, of all people, know what it does to your body. I have tried other methods, and none of them have worked. The doctor warned me the medication was expensive. Insurance won't pay a dime for it. But with the current rate of Marlboro Ultralights being about $4.50 a pack, multiplied by two pack-a-day smaokers in the house, I figure that, if the drug truly does help me, I would actually come out ahead in the long run if I just drop the $140 for the prescription. Not only will I save on cigarettes, but also on silly side expenses, like the impending treatmnet for lung cancer that would most definitely be in my future. I mean, let's face it: some people can go their entire lives without ever feeling any impact from smoking. They are 96, still smoke Camel Non-filters, yet have no emphysema, no cancer. I just do not have that kind of luck.
I plan to blog about my cessation efforts, if for nothing more than to keep myself sane through the use of an outlet. I started another blog, though it only has one post so far. I named it Operation Fatbody No Longer, as it is all about my quest to get myself in shape for the much desired commission into the Navy. Since smoking cessation fits into this quest, that is where it will be.
Showing posts with label sicko. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sicko. Show all posts
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
They Said No
I am still sick, of course. Very sick.
Well, we have this policy at work that in the event that someone is called off of work due to overstaffing, you can indicate that you would like to be the one by placing a big red dot by your name on the schedule. It says to the world that, hey, I am a team player and did not call in, but if you are going to send someone home, please let it be me.
I called my supervisor, realizing there was a snowball's chance in Hell that anyone would be called off, to have her red-dot my name. Ha! Hahaha! Let's just say, I got a lecture and am now off of work tonight. As it turns out, several of my coworkers are off from the same thing, one of which has pneumonia. 10 bucks says we all got it from the same patient. "I really don't need you here in that condition." Grrrrrr. While it is very true that I now have an entire day off of work, I hate it. I hate doing this to my coworkers, making them work their arses off to cover for my absence.
In the meantime, I found out something interesting. Each and every day I report to work, I find myself adjusting to the difference between this place and my previous employer. Other employees grumble about the place, but I know better because I have seen firsthand that there is worse out there. Much worse. This place actually takes care of its employees. But here is another difference I discovered: if you are ill for whatever reason, and it is something that is deemed contagious by your doctor, so long as they document it in writing and you report it to employee health, the absence cannot count against you. Fabulous. I only miss work when I am physically unable to work due to illness. I missed a couple months back because I had this horrendous stomach virus, for example, and was unable to get out of bed.
I have made a doctor's appointment for this afternoon. I really hope I have nothing but the flu. But I cannot breathe. I see a chest x-ray in my future.
Well, we have this policy at work that in the event that someone is called off of work due to overstaffing, you can indicate that you would like to be the one by placing a big red dot by your name on the schedule. It says to the world that, hey, I am a team player and did not call in, but if you are going to send someone home, please let it be me.
I called my supervisor, realizing there was a snowball's chance in Hell that anyone would be called off, to have her red-dot my name. Ha! Hahaha! Let's just say, I got a lecture and am now off of work tonight. As it turns out, several of my coworkers are off from the same thing, one of which has pneumonia. 10 bucks says we all got it from the same patient. "I really don't need you here in that condition." Grrrrrr. While it is very true that I now have an entire day off of work, I hate it. I hate doing this to my coworkers, making them work their arses off to cover for my absence.
In the meantime, I found out something interesting. Each and every day I report to work, I find myself adjusting to the difference between this place and my previous employer. Other employees grumble about the place, but I know better because I have seen firsthand that there is worse out there. Much worse. This place actually takes care of its employees. But here is another difference I discovered: if you are ill for whatever reason, and it is something that is deemed contagious by your doctor, so long as they document it in writing and you report it to employee health, the absence cannot count against you. Fabulous. I only miss work when I am physically unable to work due to illness. I missed a couple months back because I had this horrendous stomach virus, for example, and was unable to get out of bed.
I have made a doctor's appointment for this afternoon. I really hope I have nothing but the flu. But I cannot breathe. I see a chest x-ray in my future.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Flu Happens
Forget Chemistry and Biology, work and family and everything else that is going on.
I. Am. Sick.
I have no idea how I am going to manage to be successful at work tomorrow night (or at any other task I undertake in the next couple of days).
Right now, I just know that I cannot call in sick. One coworker is on FMLA because his wife just had a baby. Another took a leave of absence, and I am not sure why, but I am sure I will find out when I report for my shift tomorrow night.
It all started with this benign tickle in my throat. Which made me cough just a little bit, but hey, no big deal, right? I popped Halls Defense tabs like they were going out of style, telling everyone that I cannot get sick. Between school and work, the world will stop turning if I am ill. But then it happened. I was cuddling with John on the living room floor, all snuggled in a blanket, watching a movie, when I started to cough really hard. I coughed so hard I urrrrrppped. Gross. And John, God how I love him, helped me clean myself up and helped me get tucked in on the sofa for the night. I remember waking up this morning, freezing despite the big comforter wrapped around me. The rest of today has passed in a blur of periods of awake and sleep. I would be freezing, and he would wrap me in such a weight of blankets that I should not have been able to breathe. I would wake a few hours later, drenched in sweat, and toss off the blankets. All of this only to repeat the ritual an hour later. The monotony was broken up by him bringing me a dose of Robitussin every 4 hours.
The period of time I would have spent in chemistry recitation came and went. Lecture came and went. In a fit of wakefulness, I ended up emailing my professor this afternoon to let him know where I was today. We have these little cards, worth only two points each, that we turn in during recitation each week. No big deal, but they add up to be a full quiz grade at the end of the quarter. In his response, he told me we would talk when I return on Tuesday. I am sincerely hoping he will cut me some slack on this one.
Other than all of this, my body is racked with aches and chills, and I truly think I have the flu. My mind flashes back to a time earlier in the week when I saw a headline that the flu is showing some rather resistant strains this year. "That's interesting", I thought, as I went on about my day. Now I am left to ponder that in conjunction with the fact that I got a flu vaccine earlier in the season from work. In fact. they pretty much made me, in that if I did not, I had to fill out this big waiver for the hospital, which in turn is reported to employee health, etc. In other words, just take the damned shot already, and thus I did.
Oh, the irony!
So now I am sitting here, typing this in a haze. I know I should use the time to study, being that I slept all day. I am having a hard time being productive, and am starting to feel hot again, wondering if I am about to break another fever. Blah!
I. Am. Sick.
I have no idea how I am going to manage to be successful at work tomorrow night (or at any other task I undertake in the next couple of days).
Right now, I just know that I cannot call in sick. One coworker is on FMLA because his wife just had a baby. Another took a leave of absence, and I am not sure why, but I am sure I will find out when I report for my shift tomorrow night.
It all started with this benign tickle in my throat. Which made me cough just a little bit, but hey, no big deal, right? I popped Halls Defense tabs like they were going out of style, telling everyone that I cannot get sick. Between school and work, the world will stop turning if I am ill. But then it happened. I was cuddling with John on the living room floor, all snuggled in a blanket, watching a movie, when I started to cough really hard. I coughed so hard I urrrrrppped. Gross. And John, God how I love him, helped me clean myself up and helped me get tucked in on the sofa for the night. I remember waking up this morning, freezing despite the big comforter wrapped around me. The rest of today has passed in a blur of periods of awake and sleep. I would be freezing, and he would wrap me in such a weight of blankets that I should not have been able to breathe. I would wake a few hours later, drenched in sweat, and toss off the blankets. All of this only to repeat the ritual an hour later. The monotony was broken up by him bringing me a dose of Robitussin every 4 hours.
The period of time I would have spent in chemistry recitation came and went. Lecture came and went. In a fit of wakefulness, I ended up emailing my professor this afternoon to let him know where I was today. We have these little cards, worth only two points each, that we turn in during recitation each week. No big deal, but they add up to be a full quiz grade at the end of the quarter. In his response, he told me we would talk when I return on Tuesday. I am sincerely hoping he will cut me some slack on this one.
Other than all of this, my body is racked with aches and chills, and I truly think I have the flu. My mind flashes back to a time earlier in the week when I saw a headline that the flu is showing some rather resistant strains this year. "That's interesting", I thought, as I went on about my day. Now I am left to ponder that in conjunction with the fact that I got a flu vaccine earlier in the season from work. In fact. they pretty much made me, in that if I did not, I had to fill out this big waiver for the hospital, which in turn is reported to employee health, etc. In other words, just take the damned shot already, and thus I did.
Oh, the irony!
So now I am sitting here, typing this in a haze. I know I should use the time to study, being that I slept all day. I am having a hard time being productive, and am starting to feel hot again, wondering if I am about to break another fever. Blah!
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