Infection Update-Day 5

Well friends, I am still sick. 3 days after going to my local MinuteClinic at CVS and having a male nurse practioner tell me it was nothing more than a "little sinus infection", I still felt horrible. I could not keep my fever under control, (think 101-103) and that was WITH Tylenol and Motrin!! I followed this guy's exact orders of, "take Zyrtex-D, Mucinex, use nasal spray and sleep under a humidifier" and still nothing! I knew the fever was indicating a more serious problem so Thurs. morning I hauled myself out of bed and went to my ENT.
He was shocked by what this other guy had told me and couldn't believe he didn't prescribe anything to me. He said I had a MAJOR infection and that he was going to immediately give me a steroid shot, (in my patootie-OUCH) and clear out my sinuses and get me on a high dose on antibiotics. He seemed very concerned. So I asked him what antibiotic and he said Augmentin, and I replied that I had been on that before many years ago. He then said, "probably not like this. I am giving you 1000mg pills. You are to take 2 pills every 12 hours. And you are to eat a piece of chocolate before you take the pills. Every time." Ok, so let me get this straight, I am gonna be on 4000mg of meds, but I get to eat chocolate everyday?? Ok, I am now officially IN LOVE with my ENT! Haha! (Sorry Phil!) He said the chocolate was to prevent upset tummy issues, which let me tell you, he is brilliant! I was really nervous about taking such a high dose, but sure enough, no tummy problems! I am slowly on my way to recovery. I still have a little bit of fever, but I can now blow my nose for the first time in 5 days! Whohoo! My jaw is no longer my worst enemy. It hurt so bad that I literally wanted to tear off my lower jaw from the pain. My throat is still raw, but I have learned of the wonders of Chloraseptic spray! I usually never get that sick, so never had the need to buy this stuff, but oh. my. goodness! It actually numbs your throat so you don't feel a thing! MIRACLE! I still have a little trouble sleeping at night because when I lay down, my nose tends to close up again making it harder to breathe. When I sit up, my nose usually starts running, so I have had to try and angle myself or go camp out in our recliner.
My poor mother is still berating me for 1.)going to the MinuteClinic in the first place and 2.) not going to the ENT immediately after the other guy didn't give me a prescription. I have to explain myself here though. Ever since I was little, I never got sick. Hardly ever. I had chicken pox when I was five and that was ONLY because my brother got them and my mom didn't want me to get them later on, so she made my brother and I rub our arms together so I could go ahead and get them and be done with it. Nice huh. So even that wasn't my fault. Other than that, I would be a very occasional infection, think once every couple of years! I just never got sick. Even well into my adulthood, I never got sick. I would get a little sniffle now and then and the occasional mild cold but that was it. Back in 2000 I did get the flu from some idiot on a plane and came back home and was basically in a coma for a week. Seriously, I don't even remember what happened all that week. But that's been about it.
Now for some reason, since Sept. 2008 when Hurricane Ike reared its ugly head, I have been sick constantly. Every month, my nose would be congested, but I would not run fever. So I just figured it was allergies that the hurricane had kicked up. I am not used to being sick here people. It is a strange and annoying little occurrence that I would much rather do without. So because of this, I am not one to run to the Dr. the minute I get a little runny nose. I do not like to look like a baby, like I can't handle it. It's not in my nature. Yes, I am stubborn or couldn't you tell. I just figure I can tough my way through it with my nice OTC drugs and see what happens. I'll give you another for instance:

When I was 7 1/2 months pregnant, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like an elephant was sitting on my chest. Because I am a "full figured" gal, I immediately thought I was having a heart attack. I tried walking around my house for a few min. but knew this was serious. I woke up my husband and told him we needed to go the ER. I was terrified for my unborn daughter. As it turned out, the ER docs said it had nothing to do with my heart. Because our daughter was sitting so high up, (like right under my chest) it was causing severe acid reflux. They gave me some muscle relaxer to relax my esophagus and I immediately felt better. So after that, I never thought another thing about it. Well, exactly one week after having my emergency C-section, this pain returned, but it was different this time. I was standing in my kitchen feeling perfectly normal when all of a sudden I started to feel a little dizzy. Then I broke out in a cold sweat. Then I started to feel nauseous and then the pain came. Oh the pain. I knew this was NOT acid reflux. Then I would start to throw up. After several hours of this, it would just go away and that would be it. I was dumbfounded. What in the world was happening to me? This proceeded to happen 3 more times on a weekely basis. I finally went to my trusty internet and typed in all my symptoms and couldn't believe what I found. It was gall stones! A classic case! It said that this was very typical especially after child birth because a woman who is producing hormomes for 2 is now left with all that in their body after the baby is born. Sometimes your body doesn't know what to do with all of it and your gall bladder calcifies it. Lovely, I know. One Friday night, I started having the attack and by Saturday night, it had not gone away. I read about some home remedies and decided to do this. (I told you I was stubborn.) I tried everything it said, even resorting to eating bread with olive oil straight. By Monday afternoon, I was in so much pain, I couldn't even hold my baby. I finally gave up. My friend was over visiting and helping me out and I told her I needed to go to the ER. We went by my parents, dropped off my daughter and my husband met us at the hospital. After several hours of VERY uncomfortable waiting, they finally took me back, did an ultrasound of my gall bladder and even the technician was astounded. She said I had so many gall stones she couldn't believe I had waited this long to come in. I was immediately scheduled for surgery first thing the next morning. So almost 4 weeks to the day I had an emergency C-section, I had emergency surgery to get my gall bladder out. That is the most time I have ever spent in a hospital in my life! And trust me, that was enough for me! After that surgery, I have never felt better! Who knew a little 'ol gall bladder could cause so much pain and suffering??

So as you can see, I am not one that goes to the Dr. very often if I can avoid it. It's not that I don't like them, I do! I just want to make sure it is something that doesn't require some simple solution first. Take for example this infection. Now I know there was absolutely nothing I could do but take antibiotics to get rid of this stuff. I am fine with that, antibiotics work wonders. But when my husband went to go pick up my astounding, fabulous, wonder drug, he almost had a heart attack himself when they told him just how much it was gonna cost. Come on, take a guess I DARE YOU. I figured anywhere between $30-50 bucks right. Nope. $75? Nope. $100?? Not even close. $140 people! Yes, you read that right, $140 bucks for 10 days worth of 1 medication. Maybe this is why I don't go to the Dr. more often.. they just want to prescribe you meds that end up costing you an arm and a leg. I told Phil he should offer the pharmacist my kidney in exchange for the meds...neither of them were amused.