Sick...again

I am pretty sure that my body is revolting against me.  I had just started feeling better after the whole meningitis thing...now I have a sinus infection.  I just can't win.

Still tired

Again...I thought I was feeling completely like myself again.  Wrong.  I worked the last two days.  They were busy days.  Hectic even.  Stressful to some extend.  Especially Thursday.  I took care of a very sick little peanut.  She stressed me out.  Friday I was basically catch-all helper RN for the day.  That always keeps me busy.  When I got home from work last night Logan was over.  Yay!  We played for about a half hour...then I layed down for a minute to read.  Next thing I knew it was 2am!  I went back to sleep then and I didn't get up until 7am!  I guess I'm still recovering a bit.  More sleep please :)

Two more days of work and then Shawn and I are going away for a couple of days to celebrate our Anniversary.  It's been 2 years already...seems like a lot longer.  I mean that in the best way possible!  We've just been through a lot together in such a short time.  A lot of good and some bad too.  We're looking forward to a couple of days away together :)

Relapse

I thought I was feeling better so I went back to work this week.  I wasn't 100% sure though, so I called ahead to ask for a fairly easy patient assignment and with prior approval from the manager that I could stay only 8 hours (instead of 12) if I needed.  Well...I stayed 8 hours, but it was difficult.  I didn't reallly realize how tired I was still.  I went back the next day, but apparently my headache was obivous to my coworkers, several of which mentioned to the charge nurse that I needed to leave.  I only stayed 4 hours that day.  I napped for 3 hours when I got home too.  Geez!  I am really trying to kick this, but it is harder than it seems!  Today I have done absolutely nothing...and I am feeling better.  I have more energy than I have in a while, so that's good!  I am going back to work tomorrow for a full day and I am determined to make it work!  I am stronger than this stupid virus!

Relaxing

For anyone worrying about me...I would like to start by saying that I am feeling much better.  My headache is mostly under control (pain medication 2-3 times per day now) and I am only napping once a day.  I going to the doctor tomorrow for a follow-up appointment and hope to be back to work by Thursday.

As for this time I've been home...I have been relaxing a lot.  Here are few random pictures.

I made a peach pie last week.  With peaches from the farmer's market. I have never made peach pie before (and to be honest, I had never eaten peach pie before.).  I think it turned out pretty good.



Logan came over and played on my porch last week.  Before I was sick.  I just hadn't posted this cute picture yet.  He is just about the cutest thing ever.  Mimi posted the cutest picture of him to date on facebook...I will have to repost it here later.

Marcie was very glad I came home from the hospital.  She has been taking over Shawn's side of the bed when he's not in it so she can be close to me.  She loves me :)

Lastly, I have never had much of a green thumb, but I try occasionally.  I found this beautiful plant at the farmer's market months ago and it has been growing very well for me!  It is a Texas Buttercup and I love it!  It was doing so well, that I decided to take one of the new sprouts and replant it in its own pot.  Success!  The new plant is still small, but doing well and today finally had its first flower! Yay!

That's all for now.  Back to my recovery.

Viral Meningitis

So...time for the story of my week.  It's quite an exciting tale so get ready for a page turner.  Well, not exciting for me, but interesting anyway.  I'll start where it started for me.

Sunday evening.  I was cold.  Really cold.  Shivering cold.  It was 100 degrees out.  It was over 80 degrees in my bedroom.  Why was I shivering?  No clue.  I put on long sleeves and socks and went to bed.

Monday was a busy day.  Shawn and I were out running errands.  I started with a little headache that morning.  Nothing out of the ordinary, but by lunchtime it was getting much worst.  I was having some nausea along with it and some sentivitiy to light.  We came home early from our errands and I took a nap (from 3pm-7pm).  When I woke up my headache was better but I was still tired.  I went to bed for the night at 10pm...after all I had to work on Tuesday.

Tuesday was an up early day since I was scheduled to be in charge at work.  I had a headache all day, but nothing I couldn't handle.  I wasn't overly hungry but I wasn't nauseated either.  I had just a twinge of sore throat with some phlegm early in the day but it didn't last (so I assumed it was from the fan during the night).  Again, when I got home from work I was exhausted, so another night in bed before 10pm.

Wednesday is when it all started going downhill.  The headache was till with me when I woke up, and had actually woken me up during the night once.  I tired to get some stuff done by rotating ibuprofen, Excedrin, and Norco...but nothing was helping.  I called the doctor to make an appointment but they weren't going to be able to fit me in until Friday at 4pm...no way I was going to last that long with this kind of headache.  I started having muscle cramping too...just another thing to add to my discomfort for the day.  I tried to just relax.  Took a hot bath while keeping an ice pack on my head (and by ice pack I mean a bag of frozen peas).  I made mom turn off all the lights (and if you know her at all you know she hates not having the lights on!).  I sat on the couch with my feet up with the "ice pack" on my head and mom and I watched a quiet movie.  Still no change in the headache.  When Shawn got home from work we decided it was time to go to the ER.

After a head CT scan and a Lumbar Puncture in the ER...the decided I had meningitis.  At that time they weren't sure if it was viral or bacterial (and it makes a huge difference in treatment and prognosis) so they decided to keep me in the hospital.  The only thing that was working for my headache was morphine IV (and they had tried Dilaudid too...) so after 8 hours in the ER I made it to my room in the hospital.

The Infectious Disease doctor says I probably got the virus from Logan.  He said kids in daycare typically will come home with a fever at least once a month (Logan does).  He says this is usually due to a virus of some sort.  Not ususally bad enough to make the kinds really since (they have such strong immune systems) but sometimes it can get transmitted to other people (like helpless Auntie Lisa) who get he virus too.  The virus will ususally take 2-3 days to cause an infection (Logan had a fever at my house last Friday - 2 days prior to my shivers) and the infections are usually non-specific type symptoms (like a cold or something).  Occasionally it can move to a part of the body it shouldn't (like the meninges of the brain and spinal cord) and cause meningitis.  Which is what happened to me.  There isn't really any treatment, just pain medication to help with the symptoms (the headache) and I just have to rest and drink plenty of water and wait for the virus to be done with me.  I'm hoping I'll start feeling like myself again in a few days.

So that is my story.  What a week.