SATURDAY : JP is downstairs with an English friend watching France-England in the World cup. England are getting clobbered and [bless him] JP's usual ecstatic yells for French victory are subdued- I even heard him tell the chap- 'Not to worry-Eengland always comes back in ze second 'alf.'
He has been up since six...walking a very startled but grateful dog, trying his best not to make a noise. I have not let him know that I have been awake since five.
Yesterday Dr. D. came for a home visit. Dear Dr. D.
How to describe him without him appearing to be in some way too odd? If you did not know him and were asked to give him a profession you would answer, an aesthete...theologian perhaps...a Quantum Physicist with bad social skills...very slightly autistic... not too great at the tactile business of Doctoring...very shy and extremely funny in a throwaway mumble aimed at his desk blotter. Wears tweed summer and winter. He has never let me down, misdiagnosed or rushed me when in full-self-diagnostic flow.
He was on holiday when I needed him last week and his Locum gave me all of four minutes, and a prescription for antibiotics. I faithfully took them, they made me drowsy, killed what small appetite I had, did nothing for the cough which combined with awful intercostal pain made breathing a challenge.
Dr.D did a number of things which did not involve touching, though he did listen to my chest and to me, that is his forte...he knows what to take on board and what to discard. He prescribed a limited dose of Steroids.
GERONIMO!
The man's a genius. I sent JP next door to fill the script and took the first one that day. Slept like a baby that night so that on Saturday morning I leapt out of bed, took in a lung full of air and felt no pain.
I cleaned the cat's Poo-palace and surrounding area. Vacuumed and dusted, showered, blow dried my hair, put on some slap and presented myself downstairs all before breakfast...and still felt capable of doing more.
SUNDAY: I'm on my third day of these wonderful recuperative s, four more to go and I dread to think how I shall manage without them-why I do believe they are having an effect on my brain power.
But then again... the smart bugger has probably given me placebo's - aware [as he is] of my utter belief in his powers and having diagnosed this last illness as 'all in the mind'.
Whatever...it has worked.
PS: 14th smokeless day.
Moanie, it sounds as though you have been suffering from something very similar to what I had earlier this year. The antibiotics did nothing for the cough and an xray showed a shadow on the lung - which turned out to be mucus. Eventually diagnosed as hypersensitivity to a fungus we carry in our lungs (ABPA), first cleared by steroids, now controlled by an inhaler. I stopped smoking too!
ReplyDeleteSteroids have a lovely way of treating the symptoms, but not the reason, which is why you feel so good.
ReplyDeleteMy bet is that your lungs just need to 'clean up', and after a few months, they will, miraculously, do just that.
Beware the 8 week mark, sometimes, our brain tells us that we have lost a buddy, and we weaken.
But be strong.......it wasn't a friend, after all.
Oh steroids are the most wonderful fountain of youth. Too bad they do such damage if you take them too long. I was prescribed a 10 day course for the worst most maddening rash all over my body (reaction to an antibiotic) and I would practically leap out of bed, no aches, no pains, charged around all day with energy I hadn't had for some time.
ReplyDeleteGood for you on quitting smoking. My husband quit almost three years ago except for when he is around other smokers at gatherings. Then he bums cigarette. He misses the hanging out with the smokers at parties and such. Anyway, it takes several years for your lungs to recover. Used to be I could hear him breathing (wheezing) acros the room. Now I can only hear him when all is quiet right next to him.
14th smokeless day.....wonderful....give yourself a gold star....and feel betterx
ReplyDeleteI absolutely HATE steroids.
ReplyDeleteThey have pumped my husband up to almost twice his size and he is *buzzing* about all over the place and yet he isn't doing anything.
I can't get on with them myself.
Hope you will be fine when you come off them.
I feel sure this cough is something to do with giving up smoking.
Hope you are better soon.
Maggie X
Nuts in May
My kids were prescribed steroids for asthma....I believe it was Prednisone....that has been years ago, but it made a miraculous recovery for them. Could you be asthmatic?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that you're feeling better and hope that you keep on improving. You must feel so good about having 14 days behind you. Excellent!
ReplyDeleteKeep taking the tablets and trust Dr.D. Well done on giving up smoking. You can not go back and let us all down now.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your 14th day! Stay STRONG!
ReplyDeleteYay! Yay! Oh, and did I mention... YAY!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it wonderful when the right medication kicks in? Equally so, at least, when you have someone you trust.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on a fortnight without smoking!
Bless Dr. D and a BIG congratulations on 14 smoke free days!
ReplyDeleteSteroids are an amazing drug, aren't they-- You can feel like superwoman in no time. So glad you are on the mend.
xo jj
How lovely it is to have a doctor you can have complete faith in! I envy you.
ReplyDeleteGood to see you're sticking to the plan to give up! There are other things than the gum you know. These days you can get electronic cigarettes which take nicotine cartridges of varying strengths (you're supposed to reduce the dose as you get used to smoking less) which not only give you a little bit of a hit, but fulfill the 'mouth pleasure' part too.
Keep at it!