Beware of the flu

About a week and a half a go Glenn started to complain. By started I mean, I finally started to listen as it had been a few days of whining and finally I figured it must mean something. He started with a sinus infection. No biggie there. This happens several times a year. Dude, take an advil sinus, a pain pill and please leave me be. Can't you see I'm playing backgammon here and you're interrupting my concentration?

Tuesday he asked me to call for a doctor appt. so he could get some good stuff. Of course he had particular demands regarding appointment time. Must be early a.m. or late p.m. Seriously, I'm thinking if you're in that much pain you take what you get and run there as fast as possible.

Then the fever started. That got my antennae up. Never had one of them there buggers before. Had to call and reschedule for asap. They got him in Wednesday afternoon. And my darling husband stayed home and whined all morning. I swear men are the worst sick people I ever met. Me, when I'm sick, it's give me some drugs, turn down the lights and leave me be. Men, they need rubbed, coddled and well...they just need lots of attention. If they could take out a full size ad in the Pennysaver announcing that they are sick, they would!

We went in Wed. afternoon and it was determined that there was a sinus infection AND the flu. The doctor took out the H1N1 swab but knowing we were sans insurance opted to skip the test so we would not get stuck with a huge lab bill. She gave Glenn a prescription and 3 days of sample Tamiflu. Now, if you're doctor wants to give you a partial regimen of Tamiflu DO NOT TAKE IT!!! You cannot get the remaining days at the pharmacy. You MUST buy the entire 5 day regimen. Doctors new recommendation, take 3 days and you should be fine. I've been seeing these awesome commercials about FREE antibiotics at Giant Eagle. I thought sweet...free drugs. Well, not what Glenn needed. He needed augmentin at $113.00. We opted to change the script to one of the 10 free products. Not as good, but we can always hope it kicks it.

Some chicken noodle soup, loving and bed and I figured my man would be good to go by the weekend. Yeah...not so fast there cupcake! By Thursday night his fever was 103 degrees. I called the doctor, talked for a minute, he could barely hear me so he took my number promising to call me back. It's been a week and no call yet! The fever broke with that little scare and I was happy as a clam. Yeah...again, not so fast there cupcake.

Glenn woke up Saturday morning at 6:15 with chest pains. No left arm pain...okay no heart attack. No cough...okay no pneumonia. My mom had pneumonia a few years ago and ended up on a ventilator for 2 weeks so I was a bit scared. I decided to research the pneumonia on the internet and what do you know? No cough required. I yanked him up, dressed him and flew to the emergency room. I figured a few drugs was better than a big ass machine breathing for him.

He was hustled right into a room, hooked to a heart monitor, stuck with IV's in both arms...simultaneously...the look on his face scared me. Good thing I went to the bathroom before we left. Then they did an EKG and a chest x-ray. Now at this point the only test I really think he needs is the x-ray to see how his lungs. were. Doc came in and informed us that there was abnormal rhythms in ALL parts of the heart. Old man say what!?! Well, that leads them to believe it's an inflammation of the pericardium sac. Happens when you have a viral infection. But, just to be sure, lets give you some drugs and watch you for awhile. A call to the cardiologist confirmed the first docs guess. A spray of nitroglycerin showed that it was not a heart attack as the pain remained so they gave him the toredol for pain, which helped. The bloodwork showed his cardiac enzymes were up so they decided to keep him overnight to be sure he did not get worse. Yeah...we have no insurance so let's just be sure that we're kept in debt to the medical community for a good long while. But, seriously, I was glad someone cared enough to watch him rather than send him out to the stress house he calls home.

They did an echo-gram on his way upstairs. I assume there was no more information from that other than the cardiac enzymes meant he had myocarditis (inflammation of the heart itself). The nurses upstairs told him that he had given them a scare that morning. I'm glad the doctors and techs were professional enough not to scare us initially any more than necessary.

He stayed overnight and came home at noon on Sunday with instructions to stay home and rest for 2 weeks. I'm sorry, have you met my husband, the pacer? He stayed home Monday and rested but returned to work on Tuesday morning. His boss told him that he could bring a lawn chair and watch them work so he could still get paid. Sounds like a sweet deal to me. But then I'm lazy! He took his lawn chair Tuesday and picked up trash. By Wednesday he was back to working with breaks throughout the day.

He goes back to the cardiologist on Sept. 30th. They will do an EKG to see if there is any improvement at that appointment. Luckily, the EKG is only $20 and the visit should not be more than $89.50.

Today, my kids woke up with coughs and aches. I have the start of a sinus infection. Sounds like it's our turn. I imagine Glenn will vanish as our illness increases. I'll be forced to nurse Cameron through this alone while I'm sick. Kelly is much like me as she just wants to be left be.

Hope everyone reading this stays healthy. I'll let you know what the doctor says next week.