Posts Tagged ‘health updates’
It’s a Marathon, not a…
Folks, I know I haven’t blogged this week. (Until now, of course.) But there’s a reason for that.
I have been seriously under the weather since before Christmas. I finally marched into the local urgent care clinic a few days ago, and found I had a sinus infection, ear infection, and throat infection, plus I might also have strep throat. I was given antibiotics and sent home again, plus given the directive to pick up a bunch of over-the-counter meds (which, of course, I did).
I don’t like talking about being sick. It annoys me. I want to be up and doing stuff. Like making the final editorial changes to CHANGING FACES, which are due imminently…or at least able to take a walk around the park, or drive without my head hurting like a vise has been clamped over my forehead.
My hope was that the antibiotics would help me feel so much better, I’d have something good to blog about this weekend. Like, finishing the editorial changes. Or maybe my reaction to seeing the movie about British ski-jumper Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards. (Good movie, BTW, even though they took some poetic license in creating a composite character in Eddie’s so-called “coach.”) Or maybe more on the virtues of hope, without which we can do very little in this life…as I’ve said before, if you can’t hope for better, you can’t possibly visualize it, either. Which means it’s nearly impossible to create a better situation for yourself, much less create anything else, either.
But that did not happen.
Instead, I have gotten sicker. I’m not sure what’s wrong right now, except that I’m coughing a lot, I have a fever, and feel terrible. I can’t think well and I can’t take care of what needs to get done this way from an editorial or writing standpoint.
My voice is better, which is good. (It’s again recognizable.) But that’s about the only good thing going on right now.
Unless I feel a thousand times better than this in the morning, another visit to the urgent care clinic is in my future. And I do hope they’ll figure out what is wrong, so I can get it taken care of…feeling this sick for this long is decidedly not my idea of a good time, thanks.
But I’m doing my best at the moment to remember that as bad as I feel right now, I’ve worked very hard to get CHANGING FACES ready for publication. I am not about to give up now. I merely have to rest, so I can make my best effort, as I have all along…’cause it really is a marathon, not a sprint.
So my hope is that soon, I will be able to get back to my regular blogging stuff, and talk about far more interesting things than my health. (I have to deal with my health 24/7. I’d rather not have to talk about it at my blog, too.)
And for everyone else, my advice is that if you haven’t seen that movie about Eddie Edwards yet, and you need a quick reminder of what persistence and hard work can do against all odds, you should find a way to see it.
The Revenge of C.diff — and Other Stuff
Folks, I’ve been dealing with a nasty intestinal illness for the past several weeks. It’s called C.diff, and it came on suddenly after I’d finished a course of antibiotics for a sinus infection.
Because of this, I haven’t blogged, I haven’t written much, and I haven’t been able to do as much editing as I wanted, including the final touches to my novel A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE, the sequel (or continuation) to AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE. (Or, as I put it to myself — and for long-time readers — the second half of ELFY.)
I’ve been put on a very strong medicine to combat this C.diff, and while it seems to be working, it has left me weak and tired.
That said, I will persist…as I said a while back, I may be slowed, but I haven’t stopped.
And I won’t stop.
Admittedly, I am frustrated. I want to be doing so much more than this. (“Outrunning time,” as Lois McMaster Bujold put it in A CIVIL CAMPAIGN.) Being sick for weeks or months on end is certainly not my idea of an endgame, and I hope I will somehow be able to regain my health soon.
That said, I continue to work on my final edit of A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE. I hope to have it to my publisher within a few weeks’ time, and then start work on my final edit of CHANGING FACES. I also hope to finish up a few short stories and attempt the Writers of the Future contest again this quarter if at all possible — though with the quarter end rapidly approaching, that might not be doable.
As for an update with regards to the Joey Maverick series started by my late husband Michael, I remain stalled there also. I am working on a novelette or possibly a novella in that universe, but it’s going extremely slowly — possibly because of how little energy I’ve had to work with due to the present nasty illness, already in progress.
Now, why am I telling you all of this, when I’d rather be discussing anything else? Partly because I believe in being honest. Partly because I think we need to talk more about what troubles us. And partly because I know there are people who follow my life and career — God/dess help them — and have asked me what the status is with regards to my writing and my health.
My weekend plans are to do some editing, both for myself and for a client who’s been patiently waiting, and to see if I can get any writing done. I also plan to finally review Dick Button’s interesting book on figure skating, PUSH DICK’S BUTTON, over at Shiny Book Review later today for Nonfiction Friday. (Edited to add: review is up.)
So I’ll continue to do what I can, and hope that things will pick up from here. (I can’t remember now if the phrase is “We live in hope” or “We live and hope,” but either way, that’s what I’m doing right now.)
And thanks, as always, for coming to my blog. I do appreciate it.
Bad Weather, Bad Health
Folks, I haven’t had much to report in the past week-plus that’s any good, which is the main reason I haven’t blogged. My health is still terrible, I’m still trying to get better, and almost all of my energy is going toward my paying work (that, of course, being editing).
During this time, I’ve had to withdraw from participation in the December UW-Parkside Community Band concert due to my health continuing to act up, and I’ve hardly left the house except for doctor appointments and a few shopping trips (as despite it all, I still need food).
Today, though, there was a new threat: inclement weather.
We had at least five tornado warnings in Racine County this morning, it seemed like, and while all these didn’t pan out, they’re scary while they’re happening. We’ve also had high winds, flash flooding, and many other problems we rarely see in November in Wisconsin, which has made Sunday enormously challenging all the way around.
Granted, we’ve been spared the devastation Illinois has suffered in a few places. We’ve mostly been spared anything except for some cows dying, a few roofs blowing off, and of course traffic issues due to streets flooding out in various low-lying areas all over Wisconsin.
For my friends who live in Southeastern Wisconsin, I hope you all will be cautious and safe during this time.
Me, I plan to stay home. (What a surprise, eh?) And if the winds stop blowing so hard, I’ll try to do some work later on, once I’ve caught up on a wee bit more rest. (As it’s far from restful to hear siren after siren, though I’m very glad the sirens worked and were able to warn everyone, no lie.)
And it probably goes without saying, but here goes: May the week ahead be far, far better than this for us all.
Went to U-C Clinic, Have Bronchitis
Folks, as you know from today’s earlier blog, I have been sick for not one, not two, but five long weeks. And I’ve been to the local urgent care clinic, Prompt Care, at least twice before . . . once I’d been given antibiotics for a sinus infection, the second time I’d been given prednisone and sent home again.
Well, today I went back to the same clinic and saw a different doctor. This particular doctor has seen me several times in the past few years, as this particular clinic serves a lot of people in my particular situation (low income/underinsured/uninsured) but has a rotational physician system (this is why you don’t see the same doctor every time). Anyway, he said three things:
- I have acute bronchitis,
- I do need an antibiotic, and
- He doesn’t know how this was missed the last time I was in there, as he agreed I’ve been sick with this for at least the last three weeks by looking over the notes the last doctor left (they were consistent, but not as bad, as what I presented with today).
We have a very nice pharmacy here that gives out a certain amount of free antibiotics a year, and I’m going to take advantage of this free program tomorrow when they open up. (I also was prescribed a cough syrup to help me sleep at night.)
Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same as before — rest as much as possible, drink as many hot liquids as possible (tea with honey, again, or clear soup) to break up the phlegm and work to tolerance (he was surprised I could work at all under the circumstances, and said that I’m much more ill than he can ever recall seeing me — which, considering he works at an urgent care clinic and has seen me ill many, many times, is really saying something).
Anyway, that’s the update. But I’d still like any thought you might have, including anything regarding holistic cures, because this illness is obviously very, very far from over.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 