Hanging in there

Lately it seems like every time we do a sputum culture we find a new infection. I think my lungs put up a flyer at the hottest bacteria hangout. “Vacancies available! Low prices! A comfortable place to raise your spawn!” This month’s pest: MRSA. I’m kind of feeling like a leper these days, since I know MRSA is supposed to be highly contagious, but I’m trying to stay calm since healthy people aren’t supposed to be susceptible to it. It’s unclear whether MRSA is the cause of my recent health struggles, but we aren’t taking any chances, so I started IV Vancomycin on Friday to try to eradicate it.

I’ve never taken Vancomycin before, so they also sent out an “anaphylaxis kit,” which wasn’t alarming at all. Fortunately the first dose went well and the anaphylaxis kit remains unused. Unfortunately, after a couple days I developed a rash all over my torso. It took 40 years, but it seems we finally found a medication that I’m allergic to! Due to this we stopped the Vancomycin and are switching me over to an oral antibiotic. In the meantime, the rash still hasn’t gone away and actually seems to be spreading, despite the fact that my last dose was Sunday night and I’ve been taking Benadryl multiple times a day. So that’s been fun. Of course, I also just realized that my Benadryl expired in September of 2017. Maybe some non-expired Benadryl will work better.

Aside from all this, my lungs decided to bring the drama and bleed Friday night. I thought the leaky pipe issue was under control, but apparently not. Thankfully it was “only” 15 mL, which for me isn’t too bad. I did make an appropriately dramatic scene though by spraying blood all over the white bathroom sink. If it wasn’t Shabbos I totally would have taken a picture of the crime scene for posterity. On a related note: squeamish people should never, ever randomly scroll through the pictures on my phone. You never know what random horrifying medical disasters you might find in there.

I’m also still very hoarse and scratchy as well as super congested. I haven’t been sleeping well because I wake up rattling and coughing multiple times overnight. But I’m a little less tired with the higher dose of Prednisone, and I think my oxygen is doing a little better this week.

I know none of this sounds great, and honestly I’ve been having a pretty cranky week. But despite all this, I did have one really good day, because 2 friends who couldn’t make it to the party made a special trip in from out of state to visit me! Sarah and Anna joined forces to drive in from Cleveland and Pittsburgh for an awesome roommate reunion. And unlike the actual party, we got to spend hours chatting and hanging out together, which was wonderful! I’m so lucky to have such terrific friends!

Also, Sarah wrote a thing about me, so I’m basically famous now. Get in line for autographs everyone!

www.ou.org/life/inspiration/the-40th-birthday-bash-appreciating-each-day