Well I'm not dying...

So it's been a few days but I am FINALLY feeling better. After work Friday (which was without unattractive naked coughing fits, thank God) I went to see the ol' family doc. Well, actually I went to see a nurse practitioner... I personally have VERY little faith in Nurse Practitioners... Nurse Practitioners like to believe they are doctors, but they are, in fact, NOT doctors. If they were doctors, they wouldn't be called Nurse Practitioners. They would be called Doctors (which they are not). Every one I have ever had the pleasure of being examined by either really didn't know what the hell they were doing, either really didn't know what the hell they were doing and acted like they did cause they were too embarrassed to get help from the doctor, OR they either really didn't know what the hell they were doing but TRULY believed they DID and actually believed themselves to be doctors and ordered tests and what not without asking the doctor if that was indeed what they should do AND without telling you in advance how much it was going to cost you. In all of these experiences I was always diagnosed wrongly and had to return at a later date to see the DOCTOR to FINALLY get well, But ANYWAY....

So my sister used to work at said doctor's office and has a little pull with people so I called her on the way to work to see if she could get me an appointment. She called (and of course did) BUT the only person who could see me was the nurse practitioner. I thought she was referring to the only nurse practitioner I knew to be in the office. As it turns out there is another one in the office whom I was assured was much more thorough and I would really like. So I said fine and went. I knew what I needed and you can't really mess up an infection diagnosis when a person has green stuff coming up out of their lungs....The only little bit I was worried about was the MRSA part... but I also know how big a deal MRSA is and that NO ONE is willing to play with that...And I also knew that if she didn't have a good enough excuse not to test me then I would ask to see the doctor and ask her what she thought (cause I'm ... "assertive" ... like that).

So I get there barely after 230 (my appointment time) and I was out of there by 308. I found this to be probably the shortest amount of time I have ever spent in a doctor's office as an actual patient. I weighed a whole 94 lbs that day (wearing a coat and boots, etc...so probably still around the normal 87, which by the way will be addressed in an entirely different blog. SOON), didn't actually get my temperature checked (cause I couldn't remember if I'd had anything to drink in the past 15 minutes. I was pretty sure I hadn't, but since I had a bottle of Cranberry juice WITH me the assistant said she'd check it when she came back... but she never came back). Blood Pressure 110/72. At least she was able to check it. The last time I was in the office the CMS (certified medical assistant) couldn't take my blood pressure (after attempting a FEW times) AND then couldn't find my pulse! She gave up and just listened to my heart instead and someone else had to come take my vitals...Anyway... Shortly after she left, the NP came in.

It's kinda funny telling a medical professional what you do for a living (when you're me, anyway). After the preliminaries we got into my leaky faucet symptoms, the fact that I didn't have a runny nose until I went out in the cold the night before at 2 AM to buy an Xbox, the green gunk, and finally my most recent close contact MRSA experience. A little note to all of you, luckily (as I kinda figured, but wanted to be sure) one cannot catch the pneumonia causing MRSA from a skin infection causing MRSA. So that's good. She listened to my lungs (no pneumonia...But ironically enough my grandfather was admitted to the hospital the same day for pneumonia), did the whole check up deal...

I'm assuming it's an upper respiratory infection (which I have had 3 times now since Thanksgiving...What's up with that?!). She never actually gave me a diagnosis... but I have chest congestion, runny nose, sneezing (began on the way home from the doctor... typical), fluid behind my ears, etc. So I have an antibiotic that is weird (the medicine is weird. Not the fact she gave me an antibiotic. I knew I was going to get one of those). Because of odd circumstances (and after talking about giving me like, three other antibiotics) she gave me Ciprofloxacin, which has like, really odd warnings and restrictions and side effects. I mean, I know not to drink a lot of milk or whatever when congestion is involved cause it makes the congestion worse, but with this medicine, you like, CANNOT have calcium period! It's insane. The actual bottle says: This medication should be taken with plenty of water. Take this medicine at least 2 hours before or at least 6 hours after magnesium or aluminum containing antacids, or other products containing calcium, iron, or zinc. DO NOT TAKE THIS MEDICINE AT THE SAME TIME AS MILK, CALCIUM-FORTIFIED BEVERAGES, OR YOGURT. So yeah, anyway. AND she gave me a cough medicine that was supposed to take care of everything else.

I asked specifically if said cough medicine had an expectorant or a suppressant in it. She made out like it ONLY had an expectorant. As far as I read the papers made it sound like it only had a suppressant. I have never understood giving someone with chest congestion a medicine that has a suppressant in it. Why take away the urge to cough when the best thing is to get all that junk out?! But anyway.... Apparently it sucks all the water out of the mucous and what not that is everywhere (chest, nose, sinuses, etc). The bottle instructed to drink plenty of water as well cause apparently since it sucks all the water out of the mucous then it obviously gets dry and boogered up in your lungs and will make it even harder to breathe. So lots of water. Great. I really cannot stand drinking water...It's nearly like sticking my finger down my throat. The lack of taste just works on my gag reflex... This cough syrup though is weird too. It's like liquor. You could freeze it, but when it gets in your mouth it heats everything up. But then after you swallow it feels like everything is numb, like you've been sucking on Sucrets. THEN you get very dizzy. Like, the first few times I was so dizzy I fell over and couldn't really even hold my arm up, let alone get myself up...

While we're discussing medicine, another little handy tidbit. Publix has FREE antibiotics. There is still uncertainty whether or not this is ANY antibiotic or if there is a specific list, BUT FREE antibiotics. Funny enough, I'd told the NP that was why I wanted to use Publix as my pharmacy and she had said that if the Ciprofloxacin was not free it would be cheap (as I am a self pay patient, she and I both were concerned over my cost of, well, everything). Anyway, why did I start that as "funny enough" you ask? Because my antibiotic was, in fact, free. Which was great! BUT after after being concerned about the cost of the antibiotic, she gave me a cough syrup that was $28 AND that there was no generic for...awesome.

OH! While we're discussing the cost of health care (not that it's going to matter much longer anyway... but that's a completely different subject as well), I have found that I was CRAZY to pay for insurance. I mean, Yes, I know that if I ever have an emergency or a surgery or a hospital stay that I'm pretty much filing bankruptcy, BUT I used to pay $40 a WEEK for insurance. That's OVER $2000 a YEAR. Friday I paid 40 whole dollars to see my doctor (because they will discount the visit for self-pay patients). I paid $28 for my medicine. That's $68. Some people would have still had to pay that amount or higher even with insurance! I have been to the doctor twice in the whole of 09 and so far into 2010. That's like a total of $130. Hmm... You're intelligent people... You can see my point.

So anyway. Of course after you start taking medicine you start feeling a lot worse before you feel any better, so after Friday I have spent the past 3 days sleeping. Which is kinda how I'd been spending the last week as well, but I slept more these few days. Which both medicines say they can cause dizziness and drowsiness, so I'm assuming that is why. But today I actually got up (at like, 9 PM) and took a shower... I feel ok right now. The nose has stopped running more or less so I can get to sleep a lot easier too. I still didn't quite feel like DOING anything today, but maybe by tomorrow I will feel like getting up off the futon and getting my house somewhat back in order (it's a wreck when I'm sick... Like, dishes all over the living room, trashcans by the couch overflowing with Kleenexes...etc, you know how it is).

I had a note from Allen (our new roomie) today which read:

Fluffy,
I propose a cleaning orgy either tonight or tomorrow.
You dig?
-Pookie.

It made me laugh. But I digged it A LOT. He's off tomorrow so hopefully we can get this place back in order after my week long infirmary convalescent futon stay and his moving in! HOPEFULLY I will feel like getting further than taking a shower tomorrow. Either way, I'm not dead yet, I'm feeling much better, and I don't want to go on the cart!

Thanks for the well wishes guys!