My Strange Sickness

As I posted on 4/13/11, I was in denial or thought I was in denial about being sick.  Read about it here. 

Well, a lot has happened since then.  Not really A LOT, but it has turned into something crazy. 

I called the doctor on 4/4/11 because I had been coughing and wheezing.  I have ashtma and a horrible history of allergies and sinus surgery, so they called in an antibiotic and some Prednisone.  (Prednisone = devil, just sayin').  I took all 14 days of the antibiotic, and the Prednisone, but was still coughing.  All the other symptoms were gone, the wheeze was gone, the stuffy nose was gone, just still had a killer cough.  It was/is an annoying cough, sometimes bouts of very hard, deep, bring tears to your eyes, coughing. 

On 4/26/11, I went in for an appointment.  I thought to myself, OK, I'll go, they'll listen to my lungs, look in my ears, etc etc, I'll have a lung function test, I'll get some more meds and be outta here. 

WRONG.

At first, this appointment was like all the others, let's rule out the asthma, a sinus infection and move on......I could tell the Physician Assistant (Karen) was perplexed.  She had asked me the same questions, several different times.  Is your cough productive?  Are your sinuses clear?  Do you have sinus pressure?  Are your ears popping?  Are you rinsing your sinuses?  Is your cough productive?  How long have you been coughing?  Have you been around anyone who has been sick?   Are you sure your sinuses are clear?  Do you have a fever?  Are you sure you never had a fever?  Cough is not productive?  Do you have sinus pressure?  How long have you been coughing?  Did you finish all of the antibiotic and prednisone?  and on and on and on.

The next step was to do a sinus x-ray to insure that my sinuses were indeed clear.  I told her they were fine, I had no pain/pressure, but whatever she thinks is necessary, I'll do it.  So, we did sinus x-rays, guess what?  They were clear. 

Karen then asked, Have you been around anyone with Pertussis?

I said, Uh, what's that? 

She said, Whooping cough.

I said, UMMMM, WHOOPING COUGH?!?!  My eyeballs got HUGE.  I felt like I had a cartoon moment when their eyes do the boing boing boing in and out of their head.  My jaw dropped to the floor.

I had to go to the lab for some tests to confirm Pertussis.  I had antibodies tested by blood, and cultures taken from both of my nostrils.

I left the doctor's office and drove to the lab and my brain was swirling to make sense of all of this.  I was thinking, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN MY BODY?!?!  Whooping cough, reallyyyy??!?!  It just sounds like a horrible, awful disease that would constitute me living in a bubble or something.  Further more, what is worse, Karen said I could cough for weeks, months and possibly up to a YEAR!  A YEAR!?!! Of this cough?!?!  It's every day, all day, all the time, I live on cough drops and Robitussin right now.....I get to do this for a year possibly?!?!  Are you kidding me?!?!  People are going to think I am a contagious freak!   

After the blood work and cultures came back positive, I was labeled as a whooping cough-er.  Not really, but the lab did confirm that is what I have.  I was treated with another antibiotic, specifically to treat Pertussis and given a mass amount of Tessalon Perles (prescription cough medicine), with refills.  You know it's bad when it's not a routine medication and they give you refills.  Yikes.        

Say hello to my new lil' friends.
I prefer the fruity variety of cough drops.  Since I have to eat a ton of them a day, I prefer not to have the strong, menthol, funky inside of your mouth feeling ALL DAY, EVERY DAY.   

These are Halls Defense.  They are fruity and full of Vitamin C (which "helps" Pertussis, I've learned) 

The fun thing about these cough drops is there's "A PEP TALK IN EVERY DROP"

With each drop you get a fun and encouraging message on the wrapper.  How nice.  

Clearly, Halls didn't have a cranky, coughing Pertussis patient in mind when they created the pep talk....hehe.  To unwrap a cough drop,1,048 times a day, is not a happy experience. 
But, bless them, they tried.   

One thing I have learned with Pertussis, NEVER leave the house without cough drops and a bottle of water.  And if you do, go straight to the drug store or quick stop and get a bag of them and a bottle of water.  Keep these things on hand, at all times, in your car, purse, at work, etc. 

 I hope no one ever needs this advice, but trust me, you will thank me for it. 

I just ordered, and received this new throat spray.  This is where I ordered it.  I've only used it a few days, but it's all natural.  On the advice of a co-worker, I ordered it.  She says it is the bomb dot com when it comes to a cough.  I told her my cough might be a little more "extreme" than just a common cold, but at this point, I am game to try anything.  I am hoping it helps.   It contains zinc and grapefruit seed extract....oh, AND it freshens your breath too, score!  :)

If it is true, that with Pertussis, you will cough for 90 days-ish (from what I've read), then I am about a month and a half away from being done coughing.  Let's hope it's sooner.  Oh well, it'll run it's course.  Maybe the throat spray will be magical and I will be a new human because of it. 

We don't know when or if I was ever contagious, because I did take a 14 day round of antibiotics early on.  Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't.  If I was, I would think that my family, friends and co-workers would be infected as well.  THANK GOODNESS nobody else that I'm in contact with on a daily basis has gotten sick.

Why am I sharing all of this?  I don't know really, maybe I wanted to blog it so I would remember.  But I do want everyone to know that just because it's not winter time, and the warmer weather is coming, you still can get sick.  Germs are still lurking everywhere.  So, be diligent in your hand washing and cover your cough if you have one.  Anyone can get sick at any time.....

Until next time, peace out!