Better times...

Yes I did indeed have some nasty crud in my lungs but thanks to my doctor, I am hoping that my lungs stay at least status quo. Initially I was given IM injections of Rocephin for my lingering cooties....Let me tell you, those suckers hurt. I was to be given one, very large injection daily in my ass for a period of a week (this is all after I went through nearly 2 weeks of oral antibiotics). I agreed to this plan. The first day, not so bad, but I had an egg shaped lump that I swear messed with sitting comfortably. The second day, the same thing and I still had the same lump from the first injection. Now I had two large egg shaped masses on my ass which were exquisitely painful.

I finally begged my doctor to please just let me access my port and I will take care of the rest. The only issue was my insurance paying for the Rocephin. Amazingly, they covered it! I knew that they had made some changes this year, but to cover IV antibiotics??? Whoo hoo!! My pharmacy ordered them and the next day I picked up my 7 dollars worth of Rocephin and proceeded home. My doc found IV saline for me to mix the drug, I had all of the other supplies including port kits, flushes and IV tubing so I was a go.

Let me just say what a relief it was to do this at home, sans those damn ten inch long needles in my ass!!! (Well, they looked that big LOL!) Sure the side effects rolled in like crashing waves, but I was home and in the comfort of my own bed with my doggie nearby. I didn't have to ring any bells to have a nurse bring me anti nausea meds...I just up and went to my fridge and voila! Phenergen was in my hands and relief would soon follow. I love having this bit of control back in my life. Fortunately, many of the antibiotics that I use in the hospital are now covered under the new changes in my plan. Some aren't though, I pray that I never need those again so that I can avoid hospital stays.

And so, a week later, I deaccess my port after its final flush and I am free for now. I have to submit to another sputum culture to see what is brewing and yes I still have a junky cough, so maybe something might be thrown at me to keep things at their best. I am still going to pulmonary rehab, I did have to hold that for a few weeks as I was just too drained from moving and the side effects were too overwhelming to deal with and did I also mention that I was too short of breath to even walk. All of these problems anchored my ass home, I was more than happy to be home just to rest and feel like myself again (or close to it).

I enjoyed watching some really nice local fireworks last night, even though it was pretty chilly. I am very glad that I remembered my sweater. I also ventured to the carnival that the fire company put on and have to say that they did a wonderful job. My brother is a member along with his wife and were slinging fried dough (yummy BTW!) and pizzas. All good fodder for carnivals. I was at first hemming and hawing whether to go or not, I was just so tired out but then I began to reason that I lived only a block or so away from the festivities and so I crawled out of my PJ's and went to see what was going on. I ran into many people I haven't seen in some time, it was great catching up with their lives.

Today is beautiful, with no clouds in sight. It has rained so much here that I was beginning to feel like I lived in Seattle or India during monsoon season LOL. Here's to day 2 without rain :)

Well, I guess it is time to close as I am supposed to meet with my mom and go shopping with her. Until next time,

Jenn :)