Sigh

I’m sick again. I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night. Chills, upset tummy, headache, fatigue, my eyes hurt, my heart keeps racing, and I have a killer sore throat. I have not had a sore throat since I had my tonsils removed when I was 16! To make it worse my lymph nodes are swollen about 2 inches. Inches! I can barely swallow water, let alone food. How frustrating.

The doctor isn’t sure what is wrong, my influenza and strep swabs came back negative, so they are treating it like the infection is of the lymph nodes themselves just in case. Though the actual diagnosis at the moment is a whole lot of, "I have no idea, you need more tests." I’m on antibiotics, but I’m supposed to call my regular doctor first thing in the morning to have additional tests run as soon as possible. In the meantime, since my official doctor’s office is closed on Sundays, I’m on extra extra strength Tylenol, which for the record is not helping at all.

UPDATE: Wednesday

So I have been sick for about 5 days now, and have just increasingly gotten worse every day. Cannot eat, drink, sleep, stand for long, etc. The original swollen lymph node is about the size of a golfball now and all the others are swollen now, too!

I have been to the doctor twice and the emergency room once. I was tested for Strep, the flu and Mono and all those tests were negative, but my throat and lymph nodes keep swelling and hurting. My doctor took more blood tests but the results of those won’t be back until Friday.

In the meantime she put me on Codiene and Lidocane, but neither helped the pain at all. Strange, eh? So I went a couple of days and continued taking those hoping maybe at some point they would magically kick in and I’d get a little relief and regain the ability to eat and drink -- but no such luck.

Today my doctor was concerned that I’m getting worse and not better so she sent me to another doctor so I could get a steroid shot to try to reduce the swelling fast. It hasn’t started working yet, but here’s hoping it does... This doctor also took me off the Lidocane and Codiene and instead put me on Oxycodone. Since it’s essentially been 5 solid days with no food and very very little to drink.

I was thinking that the oxy would work because it’s way more powerful but it is not taking any of the pain in my throat away. But I have to say I feel pretty damned good otherwise.

If the shot and Oxycodone do not work by tomorrow afternoon they’re talking about admitting me to the hospital. I’m hoping to avoid all of that so at the moment I am painfully choking down some mashed potatoes and sipping hot cocoa even though it hurts like a bitch. Also the tests get back Friday so hopefully we’ll actually know then wtf is causing all this nonsense!

Thanks for the support, I love you guys.

UPDATE: Friday

I spent a long day in the hospital yesterday. They took scans of my throat to make sure that it wasn’t swelling all the way shut or anything. They also did more inconclusive bloodwork and ran an I.V. full of fluids, anti inflammatory medication, and pain medication which actually helped me some! By the time my bag of nutrients was empty I could swallow a little bit again.

It’s a super dangerous medication so they were only able to send me home with 12 pills total. I am cherishing every single pill and eating and drinking as much as I can while the stuff is in me. After they are gone it’d be illegal for them to prescribe me any more, so this is all I get.

They sent me home after making sure I had been thoroughly rehydrated and wasn’t going to suffocate due to the swelling. I didn’t mind though because the pain meds they gave me were actually helping and that was such a great relief. When we got home Chris made me rice with franks and peas, and it was seriously like the best food I had ever tasted in my life. First time I’ve really eaten in about a week or so.

His kindness and usefulness would be short lived however, and I'd wind up trying to cook and clean for myself when I'm supposed to be on 24/7 bed rest because he's a selfish ass.

Today I went back to see my official doctor to see what my test results said. I hadn’t told anyone, cause I didn’t want anyone to worry until we knew for sure, but the first time I was in the Emergency Room the doctors there thought it could very well be Cancer. Which was a little much to swallow. I’d been worrying all week about it, as I’m sure my mother has as well since she was the only other person who knew.

Thankfully -- it’s not Cancer. It’s a very serious case of Mono. My lymph nodes are all swollen, my liver is swollen, my brain is swollen and my spleen is swollen and she says that this is just the tip of the iceburg since it’s just the first week.  I was so happy to hear her tell me that, she was a little surprised. Usually no one is happy to hear they have an illness that is going to take 3 to 5 months to be rid of, but it sure the hell beat having Cancer!

The curiosity is where in the world I managed to get Mono from. No one I know is sick with it or has been sick with it or anything like it. Chris isn’t sick and he’s the only one I’m that close to. He must be a nefarious carrier. Mono isn’t exactly easy to get outside of direct bodily fluid exchange. You would literally have to inhale a fresh sneeze to catch Mono from a passer-by.

So there you have it. I’m not supposed to leave the house unless going to a doctor’s appointment for the next 6 weeks and I’m supposed to stay in bed pretty much all of that time. Bring on the sleep!

UPDATE: It’s been a few weeks now. I’m still sick, but it’s no where near as terrible as it was when I first posted about it. I still run a low grade fever, have body aches, head aches, fatigue, a little bit of a sore throat and localized pain from the swollen lymph nodes/spleen/liver. But I’m not completely miserable, like I had been.