Get the adrenaline going
Husband was back at work yesterday, the first time in five weeks.
He had taken two weeks off to coincide with son's half-term break so that we could do all sorts.
A visit to granny had to be cancelled because I had put my back out two weeks before, and granny herself had had her wrist in a cast.
OK, so we booked tickets for the special exhibition at the British Museum.
Of course son had to manifest another cold on that Wednesday morning. He recovered after a couple of days of rest, as usual. But husband copped it.
Friday he struggled to get to the hospital for his ultra-sound scan because his consultants wanted to be sure that his liver was OK. He came home exhausted. Ironically liver was OK but he was exhausted from the cold symptoms.
He was in bed most of the weekend.
Monday, we thought his cold was over. Tuesday it was my turn to get this cold.
Wednesday husband was at the clinic because his cough was bad, his temperature was fluctuating and he was not in very good nick.
Pleurisy, said the GP (#1). Antibiotics and off to the hospital for an x-ray.
Son had some respite with a sleepover at his mate's.
Two days later (Friday) and no sleep, back at GP (#2, a different one, locum, but good one): no improvement. What do we do?
Continue with antibiotics. Honey and lemon.
Fraught weekend. This was perhaps the lowest point of his illness. He just could not find a comfortable position to be in. Moan, groan, moan, groan.
For our poor son, Daddy was physically in the house, but not quite there, it seemed. He just could not do "Daddy" things and Mum was both mum and dad (a not very good one, I'm afraid).
Monday: son returned to school.
Wednesday: husband at GP (#3, the GP who normally sorts out his long-term medication). Cough slightly better but now acquired flu symptoms. X-ray shows pneumonia. More and stronger antibiotics. Signed off work for two weeks.
Hissing, moaning, grumpy old husband.
Eventually, he showed signs of improvement, the coughing eased and he managed to sleep at night. But still came downstairs in the morning and was slumped in the sofa after breakfast, exhausted from showering and eating!
On the Saturday just before the end of his two weeks of antibiotics he managed to 'crack' this sleep/less cycle; managed to stay awake throughout the day. Tried to find things for him to do to kick-start the adrenaline.
Sunday he volunteered to do a 'supervised walk'. I wanted son to go to the shop, or to learn to do so, crossing two roads there and two roads back, buying the goods, paying and getting the right change, etc. I normally keep a distance behind him when he does this.
Husband decided he would do the supervision. Came back and complained his legs were killing him.
Of course they were, he had not used those walking muscles much for weeks. If anyone has had an experience of a fire drill walking 33 (or even just 20, 15) floors down an office block, you will know how this feels.
Midweek, back at the GP (#4, yet another one, the big cheese in this practice) who pronounced him fit for work and that he had "old-fashioned pneumonia". (A friend had use the term "new-moan-ia" previously. There certainly was a lot of "moan".) We figured he might have picked it up when he was at the hospital for his scan.
Any way he made great improvement since, and spent the rest of the week doing slightly more every day to get back into the swing of things. He was back at work yesterday in his new woolly coat and woolly scarf.
Many thanks to our friends and family for prayers and kind wishes during this time. I am especially grateful that my back had recovered sufficiently to take on those extra nursing duties. My cold symptoms lingered for some time, but I was spared a tickly cough which I dreaded the most. And husband's employer and colleagues were all so kind and understanding.
Just 2500 emails to clear on his first morning back at work!
We are NOT looking forward to the swine flu jab he has to take. This is recommended for those who are either pregnant (which he is not), immuno-suppressed (which he is) or had had a chest infection (that's him again).
Could it be after Christmas? we begged.
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He had taken two weeks off to coincide with son's half-term break so that we could do all sorts.
A visit to granny had to be cancelled because I had put my back out two weeks before, and granny herself had had her wrist in a cast.
OK, so we booked tickets for the special exhibition at the British Museum.
Of course son had to manifest another cold on that Wednesday morning. He recovered after a couple of days of rest, as usual. But husband copped it.
Friday he struggled to get to the hospital for his ultra-sound scan because his consultants wanted to be sure that his liver was OK. He came home exhausted. Ironically liver was OK but he was exhausted from the cold symptoms.
He was in bed most of the weekend.
Monday, we thought his cold was over. Tuesday it was my turn to get this cold.
Wednesday husband was at the clinic because his cough was bad, his temperature was fluctuating and he was not in very good nick.
Pleurisy, said the GP (#1). Antibiotics and off to the hospital for an x-ray.
Son had some respite with a sleepover at his mate's.
Two days later (Friday) and no sleep, back at GP (#2, a different one, locum, but good one): no improvement. What do we do?
Continue with antibiotics. Honey and lemon.
Fraught weekend. This was perhaps the lowest point of his illness. He just could not find a comfortable position to be in. Moan, groan, moan, groan.
For our poor son, Daddy was physically in the house, but not quite there, it seemed. He just could not do "Daddy" things and Mum was both mum and dad (a not very good one, I'm afraid).
Monday: son returned to school.
Wednesday: husband at GP (#3, the GP who normally sorts out his long-term medication). Cough slightly better but now acquired flu symptoms. X-ray shows pneumonia. More and stronger antibiotics. Signed off work for two weeks.
Hissing, moaning, grumpy old husband.
Eventually, he showed signs of improvement, the coughing eased and he managed to sleep at night. But still came downstairs in the morning and was slumped in the sofa after breakfast, exhausted from showering and eating!
On the Saturday just before the end of his two weeks of antibiotics he managed to 'crack' this sleep/less cycle; managed to stay awake throughout the day. Tried to find things for him to do to kick-start the adrenaline.
Sunday he volunteered to do a 'supervised walk'. I wanted son to go to the shop, or to learn to do so, crossing two roads there and two roads back, buying the goods, paying and getting the right change, etc. I normally keep a distance behind him when he does this.
Husband decided he would do the supervision. Came back and complained his legs were killing him.
Of course they were, he had not used those walking muscles much for weeks. If anyone has had an experience of a fire drill walking 33 (or even just 20, 15) floors down an office block, you will know how this feels.
Midweek, back at the GP (#4, yet another one, the big cheese in this practice) who pronounced him fit for work and that he had "old-fashioned pneumonia". (A friend had use the term "new-moan-ia" previously. There certainly was a lot of "moan".) We figured he might have picked it up when he was at the hospital for his scan.
Any way he made great improvement since, and spent the rest of the week doing slightly more every day to get back into the swing of things. He was back at work yesterday in his new woolly coat and woolly scarf.
Many thanks to our friends and family for prayers and kind wishes during this time. I am especially grateful that my back had recovered sufficiently to take on those extra nursing duties. My cold symptoms lingered for some time, but I was spared a tickly cough which I dreaded the most. And husband's employer and colleagues were all so kind and understanding.
Just 2500 emails to clear on his first morning back at work!
We are NOT looking forward to the swine flu jab he has to take. This is recommended for those who are either pregnant (which he is not), immuno-suppressed (which he is) or had had a chest infection (that's him again).
Could it be after Christmas? we begged.
Back to Organic-Ally. Become our fan on Facebook.
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