A break in the whether

Yes, I know weather is spelled w-e-a-t-h-e-r, but I am talking about a different whether, the 'whether or not' I was ever gonna get better. I think I can feel this thing actually waning. It doesn't feel like just a break in the symptoms. They have continued. I feel better internally. Tammy says I don't look better externally. My voice is still muted. I am still wheezing. My eyes are still red, which means my blood pressure is still elevated. It was 160/92 when I was at the DR's office, yesterday. My blood pressure generally remains a constant 120/80. The DR attributed it. Most likely, to the sickness coursing thru my body (Both ears infected, throat red and swollen, sinuses infected, lungs congested). My O2 stat was 90. Below 96 is not good. They toyed with the idea of giving me a nebulizer treatment (breathing treatment).

THE FLU SWAB

They did a 'flu swab'. They asked me if I had ever had one, to which I replied in the negative. They told me about it. They were going to take a swab inside my nose and test it for the flu. OK. That sounded easy. Then they brought out the swab. When you think of a swab, what comes to mind? A Q-tip, right? NOPE. They brought out a Zulu warrior battle spear. There was no swab at the end of this lethal weapon. It was pointed. The nurse told me that she was going to push this up my nostril. She further informed me that she was going to go up there 'pretty far'. It might hurt, it might burn, you might have to sneeze, she said. So I prepared myself. She entered the nostril. She went farther and farther. I began to feel the burn that she mentioned so casually. The top of my nose just at the eye line burst into flames. Still, she continued her journey. I began to see curious lights and then there was a rush of long forgotten childhood memories. The Zulu flu stick had entered my brain. She lingered there for what seemed like a few days and then she slowly pulled it out. She left, informing me it would take 10 minutes for the results to be known.

THEN THE DOCTOR

Now this was not my regular DR. Doc Mary was not in the office that day. DR. Johnson was seeing me today. He seemed a nice enough fellow. He ask the regular flu questions: shortness of breath, cough, sneezing, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, etc... He took his light thing and checked my right ear. "It is infected," he informed me. Then eh went to the left. "It is even worse," he says. He checked my unviolated nostril and that didn't look good either. Then it was on to the throat. He declared that I did indeed, have the FLU. He then went to the chart and checked the results of the Zulu brain invasion. According to it, I was FLU-FREE. "That cant be right," he said, "you do have the flu." OK,I have the flu, but if we were going to so casually disregard the the results of my torture, why make me go thru with it?

He prescribed a healthy and wealthy dose of medications. He told me to have a good weekend and to check my blood pressure in the next few days. If it doesn't come down, I am to contact them. It looks like trip to Kroger for the free BP test are in order, unless you have a spare sphygmomanometer lying around.

I skipped out on my grandsons first birthday party today. I still felt like crap and the fever, it seems, was trying to come back. While the rest of the bunch was gone, I managed to eat a bit and felt some better. I am confident that I am on the mend.

The rest of the weekend will tell the story.