Seeking God Knows What

My evening was filled with:

A strep test

A flu test

A blood draw

A chest xray

and two breathing treatments.

3 hours later and all those tests later, I came home from the urgent care place with a diagnosis of a virus not influenza, a prescription for robitussin with codeine and instructions to follow-up with PH if I did not improve in the next couple of days.

Actually I haven’t been this sick in a long time. At first, I thought my symptoms had to do with the change in antidepressants but when I woke up with a throat sore enough that I have subsisted on popsicles, chicken broth/noodle soup, plain yogurt, ice chips and part of a milkshake because it hurt to swallow anything else and a cough that has had me in tears because my chest hurt so badly from it, I realized I was sick.  After 5 days, I decided perhaps I should call PH’s office but they had no appointments and the phone nurse recommended that I be seen. 

I fear for what this trip will cost me in deductibles and co-pays but I will say that the breathing treatments (and the 800 mg of ibuprofen they gave me) have helped me feel more comfortable.

I went alone, which in hind sight was probably not the best idea.  My blood pressure and pulse were really high, enough so they wouldn’t let me leave until it came down a little bit.   Feeling very sick with no “explanation”, a lot of tests, and a hospital setting triggered some panicky moments during the gaps where I was alone in the room.  I worked very hard at keeping myself calm, reassuring myself that they were NOT going to find anything seriously wrong.  The whole idea of having a chest x-ray just about did me in.  I haven’t had one in probably 10-12 years but they were a critical part of my follow-up treatment after Wilms’ to check for recurrence. 

And now I need to go to bed and sleep….