A Quick Check In

Heya.

I'm ok.  Not quite myself again yet, but ok.

Last day of antibiotics was yesterday.  It was supposed to be Saturday but I missed two doses on the two days I went in to work (long story short I was so worried about possible digestive upset I couldn't get the pill down so I skipped it those two mornings).

I'm sure I said it in another post but man it's such a weird and sort of comforting feeling when you can FEEL the antibiotics kicking in.  Like "oh, I was actually sick and did actually need these, go figure!"

I also, in the first few days of being sick kept telling myself I wasn't that sick.  I had energy, I could do things, the cold meds kicked my fever, I was... fine?  I think I was comparing it to the last time I got really sick which would probably have been pneumonia or bronchitis or something and I remember feeling like I had to gather the energy to even get off the couch to go pee.  This wasn't that.  Thankfully.  But I think it not being like that made me think I could just fight off the whatever myself.  And then when the antibiotics kicked in I felt a little silly that I didn't call in to my doctor sooner, you know?  So I guess it was a reminder that you can be quite sick even if you don't feel utterly destroyed.  

These antibiotics did end up "messing" with my digestive system and I had a couple of really uncomfortable days until I adjusted what I was eating (I stayed away from fresh fruit and veg as they tended to go right through me and heavy/solid meals and I had a lot of bread....and yes I put on weight... sigh) and started on probiotics and that got me through the rest of the time well enough.  (Mornings were still the most uncomfortable but totally manageable as long as I stayed home and calm.)

I got back to the gym late last week (Thursday maybe?) and had an easy 15 minutes on the treadmill and an easy 15 minute swim.  I felt winded but that's just cardio on a good day!  But no coughing.  Oh, I should mention the coughing.  Not a symptom of strep, so likely a secondary bug I picked up with the strep or the strep made its way into my lungs or something but I did see my doctor last week too and she checked out my lungs and said they sound fine and that "this cough" seems to be lasting folks for 6 weeks instead of the usual 3 and that I could take allergy pills to "dry things up" as she didn't want me taking cold meds for longer than five days (and I'm convinced they kept me up anyway so screw them!)

So yeah.  I'm much better, but still tired and if I talk too much I cough and it sucks to cough these days as I wonder if everyone worries I have covid or something contagious and it's like "no, I'm really not sick I just have some irritated breathing thingies...."

A few other people at work have also been sick so I'm pretty sure that's where I picked this up (which is what I suspected at the time) and I'm glad I didn't have the strain of strep that's going around and absolutely knocking people out.  And I'm so very glad I have a family doctor and was able to get the medications to help and that I can stay home when I need to to rest because damn, the first day last week I went in to work (Monday after a week off) it was so incredibly evident how impossible it is to take care of yourself in my type of job.  I could barely even get water into myself and there was no resting and no down time so yeah, some times you really really do need to stay home to take care of yourself, you know?  I know that sounds like a really obvious thing to say but I was quite surprised just how zonked that one day (morning) of work made me and how I wasn't able to even hydrate well (even while thinking about it). 

So yeah, I took one entire week off of work and then another day off the next week (probably should have taken the Monday off but you know how it goes) and I'm happy to be off of the antibiotics and hopefully getting my digestive system back to a more regular.... uh.... thing.

Hope you're all staying well!