Relapse

My flu relapse sucks! Kids, don't try this at home.

Lived Thru The Night And Hope That Was The Nadir

I did have a horrible night and came close to giving in and going to the local ER. I could not breathe well, but I didn't want to go. I couldn't afford the copay for one thing. Also, I don't do well in hospitals overall (all of the crazy sensitivities etc. I have do not translate to nurses) and that's where the real germs with might and power lurk, waiting for the immunosuppressed. And there is always some sort of bureaucracy that trips me up, the last time having to do with the fact that my primary care doctor is in a different city.

Today after finally getting some sleep I felt like a facecloth that had been wrung and hung up to dry. Exhausted, depleted. But I could breathe better than I did last night. I tried to get some very icky paperwork done today and I did, but only a little bit of it, as I can't do very much very quickly. Tonight I kept falling asleep in front of the computer and I'm going to go take a shower now and get into bed and turn out the light.

I'm grateful for being better today than I was last night and I hope I will be even better tomorrow. Fifteen days, an antibiotic, three inhalers, and a lot of extra prednisone later, I might actually be starting to get over this respiratory infection. I sure hope so.

No, I haven't been tested for H1N1. I do not meet the criteria:

"Testing for Swine Flu
Testing for swine flu is being focused on patients who meet the following criteria:
o Patients who have been hospitalized due to influenza-like illness
o Non-hospitalized patients with influenza-like illness who:
• Had close contact with a person confirmed to have swine flu
• Lives in a high-risk setting for transmission (e.g., school, prison)
• Is part of a cluster of people with influenza-like illness (only one patient needs laboratory confirmation)
• Returned from Mexico within 7 days of illness onset or cared for ill household members with this travel history"

So anyway, good night.

Swine Flu Info

I really wanted to cut and paste the blog entry I made on another blog to here, but I am so tired I would screw it up! So here is the current info I have. I will be posting more on what the immunosuppressed (like those of us taking immunosuppressants for autoimmune disease) should do when I find out.

Today's Half Awake Words

I am so tired. I fell asleep really late last night and for some reason there were a million phone calls waking me up this am.

I've decided to make this blog my only lupus blog for now. I can't handle more than one lupus blog! It is hard enough to try to keep up on one.

There will be a support group meeting tonight. I lead the group and have to prepare. I want to bring some current swine flu info. I'm sure people are nervous about it.

I have a nasty cough. I did have a flu, gone now, but this is my usual dry wheezing cough that I get after any respiratory infection. It has something to do with the asthma and although I'm hoping to avoid extra steroids it will probably come to that to get rid of it.

My asthma is NOT contagious...