17th March 2005
[FONT=Comic Sans MS]My husband is finally back to work today after 5 weeks of being the sickest that I have ever seen him. It started with a mild sore throat that only lasted for a couple of days. Then the cough started..........and what a cough it was. It sounded like he was coughing his lungs up. He would cough until he threw up. I have never witnessed him or anyone cough so violently. He lost all of his energy and just stayed on the couch all the time. His doctor started him on Levaquin, Mucinex and a narcotic cough syrup. He decided about two weeks into this illness that he would go back to work. Bad mistake. What little progress he had made toward recuperating was destroyed and he was as bad as he was at the beginning.
He went back to the doctor and he changed his antibiotic to Biaxin along with his other prior prescriptions. He also got an antibiotic shot in the rear. He was prescribed some Darvocets 100's that made him feel a bit better but nothing stopped the cough and fatigue. He was warned to stay in bed or he was admitting him to the hospital. Back to the doctor he went for a CBC and Metabolic profile and everything was normal with the exception of his white count being slightly elevated and the differential showed a bacterial infecton. The highest fever he ran was 98.8 if you want to call that "fever". :) He had no swollen lymph glands and no joint aches except for one day that he complained of his knees aching. He had a chest x-ray and it came back normal. He continued going downhill despite the antibiotics. He wheezed as if he had severe asthma and you could hear him breathing a few feet away. The doctor started him on Ketek (another antibiotic) but wanted him to come back in three days. That doctor visit consisted of an antibiotic shot, a steroid shot, more antibiotics by mouth, an Albuterol inhaler and more cough syrup. His blood pressure also shot up to 150 over 110 and for two weeks, never got lower than 95. He had some dizziness. So the doctor had to put him on Benicar for his blood pressure. He had to have a CT scan of his lungs with contrast and without contrast. That was normal also. (We were getting very concerned by that time). It was a relief that the CT scan was normal because he use to smoke but quit a few years ago.
About 5 days ago, the coughing gradually subsided and he developed largyngitis and could only squeak when he talked. That lasted a couple of days and then everything he ate either tasted spoiled or had no taste at all. Water didn't even taste right to him. I think all in all, he saw the doctor 4, maybe 5 times, during this ordeal. He's never sick.........but this infection(?) really put him down. I really questoned whether he should go back to work or not (it's been 5 weeks) but his doctor said to go ahead and try it but he has to wear one of those gas mask looking things to keep any particles out of his lungs if he should have to walk through any of the buildings at his workplace where there might be sawdust or anything that might cause his lungs to flare up. He is only suppose to work at his desk.
He still doesn't have a lot of energy but I think he's sick of being sick and tired of staring at the 4 walls. He will be on blood pressure medicine at least for a while to see if it will finally go back to his normal blood pressure that he had two weeks prior to this super-bug. Whatever this stuff is, it is hanging on forever and you start to think you will never be well again.
I have sympathy for anyone that comes down with this. In my area, I'm starting to hear of more cases that are very similar to my husband's.
Oldbones[/FONT]
He went back to the doctor and he changed his antibiotic to Biaxin along with his other prior prescriptions. He also got an antibiotic shot in the rear. He was prescribed some Darvocets 100's that made him feel a bit better but nothing stopped the cough and fatigue. He was warned to stay in bed or he was admitting him to the hospital. Back to the doctor he went for a CBC and Metabolic profile and everything was normal with the exception of his white count being slightly elevated and the differential showed a bacterial infecton. The highest fever he ran was 98.8 if you want to call that "fever". :) He had no swollen lymph glands and no joint aches except for one day that he complained of his knees aching. He had a chest x-ray and it came back normal. He continued going downhill despite the antibiotics. He wheezed as if he had severe asthma and you could hear him breathing a few feet away. The doctor started him on Ketek (another antibiotic) but wanted him to come back in three days. That doctor visit consisted of an antibiotic shot, a steroid shot, more antibiotics by mouth, an Albuterol inhaler and more cough syrup. His blood pressure also shot up to 150 over 110 and for two weeks, never got lower than 95. He had some dizziness. So the doctor had to put him on Benicar for his blood pressure. He had to have a CT scan of his lungs with contrast and without contrast. That was normal also. (We were getting very concerned by that time). It was a relief that the CT scan was normal because he use to smoke but quit a few years ago.
About 5 days ago, the coughing gradually subsided and he developed largyngitis and could only squeak when he talked. That lasted a couple of days and then everything he ate either tasted spoiled or had no taste at all. Water didn't even taste right to him. I think all in all, he saw the doctor 4, maybe 5 times, during this ordeal. He's never sick.........but this infection(?) really put him down. I really questoned whether he should go back to work or not (it's been 5 weeks) but his doctor said to go ahead and try it but he has to wear one of those gas mask looking things to keep any particles out of his lungs if he should have to walk through any of the buildings at his workplace where there might be sawdust or anything that might cause his lungs to flare up. He is only suppose to work at his desk.
He still doesn't have a lot of energy but I think he's sick of being sick and tired of staring at the 4 walls. He will be on blood pressure medicine at least for a while to see if it will finally go back to his normal blood pressure that he had two weeks prior to this super-bug. Whatever this stuff is, it is hanging on forever and you start to think you will never be well again.
I have sympathy for anyone that comes down with this. In my area, I'm starting to hear of more cases that are very similar to my husband's.
Oldbones[/FONT]