Pneumonia

Wednesday night, I wasn't feeling so hot. Or rather, I was feeling really hot - I got a fever, I felt sore all over, and suddenly very tired. More so than normal. I thought perhaps it was the Revenge of the Cold that has been stalking me since Friday of Labor Day weekend. In the morning I got up, showered, and realized that It Wasn't Happening. Do you ever have that moment? It occurs when you're not feeling well but you're trying to drag yourself out of bed & get ready for work anyways, but suddenly it hits you that you can not do this today. So I called out and went back to bed. 


When I got up, it was nearly noon. I was feeling worse, so I called the doctor, but they were all out to lunch. They called me back when I was vacuuming (Digression: Sometimes I wonder if my need to be productive prevents me from actually resting and therefore getting well), so after a bit of phone tag, I was able to speak with a medical assistant. I described my symptoms and she said "Yeah, we need to come in today." An hour later, I was there. I had my sister, Vashti, drive me, even though I had the car - I figure dizziness and driving don't go well together. 


Once there, I got to meet my doctor, Dr. Scott. The office I'm going to (West Linn Family Health Center) is new for me, and last time I had just seen a nurse practitioner. I liked Dr. Scott. He was very focused on what I was saying and nearly immediately said he was concerned I had pneumonia and wanted to do a chest xray. I've never had an xray that wasn't dental before, so it was interesting - I had to take off my bra. They had me take two xrays, which would've looked something like this:

Only the pneumonia wasn't as bad as this.
{Source}

After reviewing the xray, Dr. Scott came in and told me I most definitely had pneumonia. He wanted to give me a couple of options for antibiotics that I could take. There was a generic antibiotic which I do not remember the name of, and he said it is effective in most cases, and he'd be happy to recommend it. He said there is also an antibiotic called Avelox, which is a bit stronger, and he usually prefers that for patients with underlying health issues. I really liked that he didn't treat me like an idiot and allowed me to make a choice. He was also upfront about the fact that Avelox is a newer drug, there is no generic, and it may cost me more. After chatting with him a bit about some of the other issues I've been having (fatigue, the supplements I'm on, etc), I said "Let's go with the Avelox." He was able to give me the first dose in the office, since he had samples. It looks like this:

{Source}

Once again, that Out of Pocket Maximum did well by us (at least until Jan 1, 2012, when it all starts over) - the receipt from the pharmacy says that my insurance benefit saved me $153.29. I only got 7 pills (you take it once a day). I paid $0.00. Some of the side effects of this drug are pretty interesting - they consider blurred vision, vomiting, and sleep problems to be some of the "lesser" effects. I personally hate taking antibiotics. They always make me feel icky, and you're generally taking them when you already feel icky. It's just a festival of ick. But I also know not to mess around with pneumonia. Right now, I'm being treated at home, which means a lot of laying on the couch, perusing the internet, and watching TV (I'm getting cable installed today!). Not to mention filling out FMLA paperwork, yet again. I'm getting pretty adept at that. But if I don't get better, I'll have to go to the hospital, and I'd really rather not. It's much more comfortable at my house, and nobody is poking me with needles or waking me up at all hours of the night to take my vitals. 

You'll probably notice that I won't be keeping up with a lot of my daily projects during this time - I will try to at least keep getting my weight. I'll also be missing out on Mt. Angel's Oktoberfest this weekend, which really sucks. I was looking forward to that. I'm starting to feel like a much older woman, rather than a young'n who is not quite twenty-five. Perhaps someday I'll be able to act like a youth again. I keep being told I'll feel better, once {insert immediate condition/treatment here} is done and over with! I'm hoping at some point that's actually true, and I'll just be well again.