Category Archives: illness

May 11, 2012 · 12:00 AM

Muted Momma

Song Lyric of the Day:

Shh! Shh! / It’s oh so quiet / Shh! Shh! / It’s oh so still / Shh! Shh! / You’re all alone / Shh! Shh!

Betty Hutton / “It’s Oh So Quiet“

Tuesday night I felt a bit wheezy, like my asthma was acting up, a rare occurrence.  So I found my rescue inhaler and took a couple of puffs. Yesterday I still felt a bit wheezy, so I kept my inhaler with me and used it twice during the first part of the day. Later on, my voice started to get a bit spotty. When reading Coraline bedtime stories, I couldn’t do the voices I usually do because my voice couldn’t hit the higher notes. Also, I didn’t want to scare her; she was already giving me the side-eye on account of how different I sounded. This morning when I woke up, my voice was all but gone. It progressively got worse throughout the day, even though I did my best to not talk too much. Late in the afternoon my throat started to hurt; it almost feels like I have a lump and like something (my vocal cords?) is swollen. The only bright side is that Coraline thought I was whispering on purpose, so she’d whisper back to me. The timing of this really stinks since in two days we’re hosting a 40th wedding anniversary party for my parents. It’d be nice if I could congratulate them without having to write it down for them to read.

Other than the throat weirdness and a mild cough (which hurts because of the throat pain) I actually don’t feel too bad. I just sound horrible. I was proactive this afternoon and called my doctor’s nurse line and left a voicemail in my raspy whisper describing what’s been going on since Tuesday night. The nurse called me back pretty quickly and scheduled an appointment for me for tomorrow morning. It works out that I’d already asked to take tomorrow off from work to prep for Saturday’s party. Of course, I hate that I have to waste time at the doctor’s office, but I need to get to the bottom of this since I’ve never lost my voice like this before, and the throat pain is pretty uncomfortable. I Googled “sudden laryngitis” and from what I read, my best guess would be a yeast infection of my vocal chords brought on by my rescue inhaler. Or I could just be affected after watching the “Hush” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer the other day. Either way, this really sucks.

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March 21, 2011 · 6:02 PM

Baby on the Hookah

Song Lyric of the Day:
Be my friend / Hold me, wrap me up / Unfold me / I am small / I’m needy / Warm me up / And breathe me

Sia / “Breathe Me“

What a day. What a weekend. Having a sick baby is no fun. At least now I think Coraline is finally starting to feel better. Today is the best she’s sounded since last Tuesday, before she woke with that rasping/wheezing in her chest Wednesday morning. I’ve been working from home every day since then to administer her nebulizer treatments (Rich worked from home Thursday and Friday to help). I’m actually taking tomorrow off to take her back to the doctor for a second recheck, deal with a few things that need to be taken care of, and get some of my shit together — well, in between her napping, that is.

As for the nebulizer, since I can’t help but inhale the mist when I’m holding it for Coraline to breathe in, it’s actually cleared up some of my sinus problems. Pretty nice side effect. Of course, from certain angles, you’d think Coraline was puffing on some sort of baby hookah pipe. But maybe that’s just me.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Yeah, it’s probably just me.

I could tell she was starting to feel better today not only by how she sounded but by the fact that whenever she was awake, she’d inchworm her way over to my work laptop and either try to hit the keyboard with her hands or try to eat it with her two teeth.

Yummy!

Here’s hoping tomorrow the doctor says her lungs are nice and clear.

I’m helping.

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March 18, 2011 · 6:00 AM

Back to the Doctor (Updated)

Song Lyric of the Day:

I told the witch doctor I was in love with you / And then the witch doctor, he told me what to do / He said that / Ooo eee, ooo ah ah, ting tang, walla wall bing bang /  Ooo eee, ooo ah ah, ting tang, walla wall bing bang


Ross Bagdasarian / “Witch Doctor“

We’re taking Coraline back to the doctor for her RSV/croup recheck this morning. She definitely seemed to be worse yesterday than she was on Wednesday when we first took her in. Good thing the doc gave us a heads up about that. I’ll update later (probably around lunchtime) with what the doc says.

UPDATE:
While her ears are still OK, the doctor heard wheezing this morning. After a breathing treatment, via a nebulizer, he noticed some improvement but still went ahead and prescribed breathing treatments every 4-6 hours while Coraline’s awake. We were given a nebulizer to bring home and a prescription for the inhaling solution to be used with it. Coraline now has to have this breathing treatment through Tuesday, when we’ll have another checkup. The doctor (and the doc who will see her for followup) called her a “happy wheezer” since she was still all smiles today. If only we were all so happy when sick, right?

I’ll be doing my best to keep working from home throughout Coraline’s recovery and treatments. If it gets to be too much, I will switch to taking PTO. This weekend will give me a better idea of how it’s going to go.

Here’s hoping the nebulizer treatments will finally help Coraline kick this RSV to the curb.

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March 16, 2011 · 7:23 PM

Learning to Trust My Mothering Instincts

Song Lyric of the Day:

The devil ain’t lazy, no siree / The devil ain’t lazy, no siree / He likes to see us fight and fuss / Makes us mean enough to cuss / And then he blames it all on us / He works 24 hours a day

As I wrote the other day, Coraline’s been sick. We thought she had a cold, like she’s had — and kicked — before. She seemed to be getting better yesterday, but this morning when I got her up not only was she still coughing, but I noticed a raspy/wheezy sound to her breathing that wasn’t there before. As soon as I heard her, my gut told me I needed to call the doctor ASAP. I got her in for an afternoon appointment, fully prepared to be diagnosed with Newmommyitis. After all, the other day I almost convinced myself that she was developing pneumonia. To say that I’m paranoid about her being/getting sick is an understatement, one I imagine I share with most new parents.

Well, it turned out to be a good thing that we took her in (Rich left work to meet us there). The doctor examined her, finding that her lungs were clear and that she did not have an ear infection. Her RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) test, however, came back positive and the doctor diagnosed her cough as croup, to boot. The poor kid is miserable, with a runny nose, horrible congestion, and a hacking cough. She is now on Prednisolone to clear up the inflammation around her vocal cords (which is what causes croup — news to me). Her doctor said with RSV you usually get worse before you get better, and he suspects that Coraline is in that downswing right now. We have a recheck on Friday to see how she’s doing. She’s under orders to not go anywhere for the next couple of days, so I’ll be working from home tomorrow and Friday to take care of her; Rich also arranged to work from home the next couple of days so I don’t have to manage Sick Baby Duty by myself. We’re very fortunate that our jobs can accommodate this type of situation (not to mention our bosses’ support). Now to get Miss Baby back to 100 percent …

As for me, I’m not only happy and relieved to know that Coraline will be okay, but that I wasn’t being overly paranoid (Rich was also very concerned, just not as paranoid as I was). In this case my paranoia/concern turned out to be legit. I was validated for being worried, so I’m really glad that I trusted my instincts and got her in before she got even worse. Seems I’ll get the hang of this whole motherhood thing yet. Now to get to bed. It’s been a long day.

“I’m sick?! You’re joking!” (173 days old, 3/15/11)

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January 28, 2008 · 8:07 PM

Still Here, Still Wheezy

Song Lyric of the Day:

You can’t turn back the clocks / You can’t pull me up from here / So don’t try

Armor for Sleep / “Car Underwater“

10:07PM.
So much for my new year’s resolution to blog every day, huh? (Although, to be fair, I knew it’d be a hard one to keep with the Uruguay trip coming up.) But what can I say? I was sick. S-I-C-K. Siiiiiiiccccccck. So almost half the days I didn’t blog were spent in complete misery, including going through a magnificent, record-setting number of tissues in a few days. I was even exiled to sleep in the guest room (four nights in a row) so the spouse could at least get some decent sleep. Of course, my cat, Yum Yum, was beyond thrilled to finally be able to declare victory and get to sleep with Mommy. Nothing like having your purring cat flexing his paws in your armpit to lull you to a Nyquil-induced sleep.

Take note: Never brag to your out-of-state friend how you no longer get sick like you used to when you lived in said state. God said, “Ha!” and smote me something awful with the worst cold and/or sinus infection I can remember in quite some time. (I’m actually still a bit wheezy, 12 days later.) And, no, I didn’t bother going to the doctor. I hate the inconvenience of waiting almost two hours for what inevitably turns out to be a five-minute appointment. Although, in hindsight, if I’d known I’d be sick for that long, I would’ve gone. Lesson learned.

At least it wasn’t the flu. Oh, and the only good thing about being that sick? I lost 3 1/2 pounds in about four days. Starve a cold, indeed.

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