An Apple a Day..........
Well, the last 10 days or so have been a bitch, to put it simply. I am just now starting to recover from a bout of Bronchitis, a viral infection and Asthma attacks that have pretty much just kicked my butt and handed me my hat. As much as I hate to admit it I had been feeling rundown for awhile now, but between the new job and working on the house, plus everything else I went on about last entry there just hasn't been time to sit down and rest or a way to get away from all the stuff I wanted to get done before the weather got nice.
Things really started going South, healthwise, the weekend before this past one. I had been having to use my inhaler more often than I like to and with less in the way of results. Then sometime during the weekend as I'm trying to work on the house I find myself getting winded and having attacks from just trying to measure and cut baseboards. By the time Monday morning came around I was hurting so I did something I don't do easily or often........I called Dr. Rabideau and made an appointment to come in and see him. The original appt was for the coming Friday but sometime during the course of Monday I realized I wasn't going to be able to tough it out until Friday so I called back to see about changing it and got an earlier appt. on Tuesday, after work.
Monday night I got worse and had to sleep sitting up in my chair cuz laying down simply wasn't an option. I was in pain from not being able to get a deep breath. The comparasion to a fish out of water was pretty much spot on at that point. When I got up Tuesday morning I had my doubts that I'd last long enough to make it to the appt that afternoon. I was so bad that I was panicing and seriously thought about heading for the emergency room instead of the shop. I got the truck moving and decided that if I didn't pass out that I'd head for work and hope that the air conditioning in the lab would keep me going until I could get to the docs place.
After a long day on the CCM, trying to focus and be productive, neither very successfully, I headed for the docs office. When I got there I was in bad shape from the effort and after an exam he wanted to put me in the hospital. Not wanting to go that route even though I sounded like I'd swallowed 12 feet of chain I convinced him to give me some meds, a breathing treatment and a couple shots in the rear end. When I left there 20 minutes later I had a 1/2 dozen prescriptions to fill and the breathing machine that he'd lent me to use 4 times a day. I promised to take all the meds cuz he was having me come back on Thursday with a trip to the hospital still an option.
By Thursday I felt better. No panic attacks to recover from and I could even get the occasoinal deep breath in. He let me keep the breathing machine until the next appt this past Monday. I took it easy over the weekend even though I went into work Saturday morning. I actually felt better there cuz the air conditioning I'd guess. Even though I was getting better and hacking up all the crap that had managed to lodge itself in my lungs over the last 6 months of house renovations, I was still kinda weak and it was easy to get winded.
Sunday was Mother's day and I felt half-way decent so me and Chris took the pickup and headed up to Big Rapids to visit the folks. I spent time talking with my dad and time with my mom on the computer, helping her out with some stuff. We had a good dinner of hamburgers, french fries and baked beans. After a bit more talk me and Chris said our goodbyes and headed into Big Rapids. It was a rainy day, In fact it's rained everyday, most all day, for the last week and a half. When we got into town we stopped at DQ for refreshments and then headed out North of town to see if I could find my way back out to an old farm house I'd discovered up there probably 10 years ago, where I liked to go and shoot pics. Back then nobody lived there so I could snoop around the place but when I came up the hill this time there was a van parked in the driveway and the house itself had been updated and made liveable. So, we didn't stick around long and decided instead to cruise by my granddads old farm. I shot a couple pics of what's left of the place as we drove by....the barn is long gone and whoever's living in the house ain't doing much to keep the place up.
Things really started going South, healthwise, the weekend before this past one. I had been having to use my inhaler more often than I like to and with less in the way of results. Then sometime during the weekend as I'm trying to work on the house I find myself getting winded and having attacks from just trying to measure and cut baseboards. By the time Monday morning came around I was hurting so I did something I don't do easily or often........I called Dr. Rabideau and made an appointment to come in and see him. The original appt was for the coming Friday but sometime during the course of Monday I realized I wasn't going to be able to tough it out until Friday so I called back to see about changing it and got an earlier appt. on Tuesday, after work.
Monday night I got worse and had to sleep sitting up in my chair cuz laying down simply wasn't an option. I was in pain from not being able to get a deep breath. The comparasion to a fish out of water was pretty much spot on at that point. When I got up Tuesday morning I had my doubts that I'd last long enough to make it to the appt that afternoon. I was so bad that I was panicing and seriously thought about heading for the emergency room instead of the shop. I got the truck moving and decided that if I didn't pass out that I'd head for work and hope that the air conditioning in the lab would keep me going until I could get to the docs place.
After a long day on the CCM, trying to focus and be productive, neither very successfully, I headed for the docs office. When I got there I was in bad shape from the effort and after an exam he wanted to put me in the hospital. Not wanting to go that route even though I sounded like I'd swallowed 12 feet of chain I convinced him to give me some meds, a breathing treatment and a couple shots in the rear end. When I left there 20 minutes later I had a 1/2 dozen prescriptions to fill and the breathing machine that he'd lent me to use 4 times a day. I promised to take all the meds cuz he was having me come back on Thursday with a trip to the hospital still an option.
By Thursday I felt better. No panic attacks to recover from and I could even get the occasoinal deep breath in. He let me keep the breathing machine until the next appt this past Monday. I took it easy over the weekend even though I went into work Saturday morning. I actually felt better there cuz the air conditioning I'd guess. Even though I was getting better and hacking up all the crap that had managed to lodge itself in my lungs over the last 6 months of house renovations, I was still kinda weak and it was easy to get winded.
Sunday was Mother's day and I felt half-way decent so me and Chris took the pickup and headed up to Big Rapids to visit the folks. I spent time talking with my dad and time with my mom on the computer, helping her out with some stuff. We had a good dinner of hamburgers, french fries and baked beans. After a bit more talk me and Chris said our goodbyes and headed into Big Rapids. It was a rainy day, In fact it's rained everyday, most all day, for the last week and a half. When we got into town we stopped at DQ for refreshments and then headed out North of town to see if I could find my way back out to an old farm house I'd discovered up there probably 10 years ago, where I liked to go and shoot pics. Back then nobody lived there so I could snoop around the place but when I came up the hill this time there was a van parked in the driveway and the house itself had been updated and made liveable. So, we didn't stick around long and decided instead to cruise by my granddads old farm. I shot a couple pics of what's left of the place as we drove by....the barn is long gone and whoever's living in the house ain't doing much to keep the place up.
The old pine stump fences I used to see all over in that area as a kid seemed to be disappearing so I tried to get a couple decent shots of one fenceline across the road before heading off. 
From there we headed for home, but not before we had a couple more picture ops show up on the ride. Just East of Fremont there's a guy who has put together a pretty impressive anti-abortion monument in his front yard. I pulled off the road so I could shoot some frames from the truck without getting myself or the camera wet. After covering that display we headed on into Fremont only to end up having to slow down multiple times to give room to the Amish buggies heading into town, no doubt for Sunday evening church services.......I had chris hold onto the wheel while I shot some pics. Interesting people they are........
Anyhow, after another doctor's appt this past Monday I am getting better, but it's obviously gonna take awhile yet before I start splitting wood or running marathons. I've still got the breathing machine until next Monday's appt. and prescriptions for enough bug killin' meds to get me thru the the next couple weeks. I've got a motorcycle trip planned from the 25th thru to 30th of this month to go out and visit David in his new place outside Front Royal VA. 600 and some odd miles one way. I've got the time off paid and money stashed for gas so as long as I can breathe I'm heading out right after work next Thursday afternoon. In the meantime I'm gonna try and take a bit better care of myself and hope that I didn't do any permanent damage with my own stupidity. The irony of this whole deal of couse is that by getting this sick and having things come to a grinding halt, that I've lost any time I was ahead of in the first place.
With that in mind it's getting late.....time to sleep.
With that in mind it's getting late.....time to sleep.
TC
posted by Tom Eckels at 11:22 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Tom, I found this very interesting. We haven't been out to my home place since Auntie died 3 years ago. See you Sunday.
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