Thursday, April 2, 2020
I feel awful today. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and my day has gone downhill since. My chest has felt a little heavy since Monday. I have also had a tiny cough. I might cough once an hour and the cough seemed to be related to my body trying to clear junk out of my lungs. Yesterday, I noticed my throat and ear were starting to hurt. This morning, as I lay in bed, my ear and throat were hurting more, and my shoulders and upper back were hurting also.
I called my older daughter, Megan, at 6:30 a.m. because the pain was starting to get very intense. I asked Megan to come at 7:00 a.m. instead of 7:30 a.m. to see if getting me into my wheelchair, and into a new position, would help alleviate some of the pain without drugs. Since Megan has not been working her other two jobs, and my seven-year-old, Mika, is not going to school, I have let Megan sleep in a little bit before coming to do my morning care.
I sent an email to my helper who usually comes on Mondays and Thursdays and told her to stay home because I am sick. Megan is already here and can do the tasks my helper does for me. I am patiently waiting until 8:30 a.m., when I can call the ask-a-nurse line to determine if I should be worried about my symptoms. I called my significant other, Donald, to verify where he keeps the ibuprofen in case I need to take some today for pain.
I do not want to spend my day worrying; I want to spend my day working. My tasks yesterday seemed to take forever. The first of each month is always a little busy for me because it is statistics day and I do payroll for my homecare staff. Yesterday I was also uploading videos to YouTube and into my client’s Google drive, so I kept overburdening my Internet, which made it difficult to collect my statistics in a timely manner.
I just got off the phone with the nurse and the fact I do not have a fever is a good sign (I thought it would be). The nurse is sending a message to Dr. Doom and Gloom’s office, so he can decide my next steps. If I start to have any trouble breathing before they call me back, the nurse told me to go to the emergency room. My breathing will need to get really difficult to get me to go to the emergency room germ fest.
I have been a little more lightheaded than usual this morning, and I am not sure if it is low blood pressure, a low oxygen level, or a combination of both. I am coughing a little more often today, and each cough feels like it is trying to bring up crud from my lungs. My impaired lungs do not clean themselves out well because I have pathetic, tiny coughs. My coughs do not have the strength to clear out my lungs which is why it is so easy for me to catch pneumonia.
I will start getting some work done after I finish writing today’s journal entry unless Dr. Doom and Gloom decides I need to come into his office today. I did check our local transit website to make sure further cuts have not been made due to a shortage of healthy drivers. Fortunately, I do have a small box of face masks, so I can wear one if I need to catch a bus to the hospital.
I am sure I simply have a spring cold, but I am wondering how I caught it since I have been practicing appropriate personal space outside of my home. Since Megan is planning to stay here to babysit me today, I may go back to bed in a couple of hours to try to take a nap, because I am starting to get a little tired.
My piece of advice to you is to use an abundance of caution. I am making plans now because if I get to the point where I cannot sit up anymore without trying to pass out, the emergency room will be my only option.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
I feel awful today. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and my day has gone downhill since. My chest has felt a little heavy since Monday. I have also had a tiny cough. I might cough once an hour and the cough seemed to be related to my body trying to clear junk out of my lungs. Yesterday, I noticed my throat and ear were starting to hurt. This morning, as I lay in bed, my ear and throat were hurting more, and my shoulders and upper back were hurting also.
I called my older daughter, Megan, at 6:30 a.m. because the pain was starting to get very intense. I asked Megan to come at 7:00 a.m. instead of 7:30 a.m. to see if getting me into my wheelchair, and into a new position, would help alleviate some of the pain without drugs. Since Megan has not been working her other two jobs, and my seven-year-old, Mika, is not going to school, I have let Megan sleep in a little bit before coming to do my morning care.
I sent an email to my helper who usually comes on Mondays and Thursdays and told her to stay home because I am sick. Megan is already here and can do the tasks my helper does for me. I am patiently waiting until 8:30 a.m., when I can call the ask-a-nurse line to determine if I should be worried about my symptoms. I called my significant other, Donald, to verify where he keeps the ibuprofen in case I need to take some today for pain.
I do not want to spend my day worrying; I want to spend my day working. My tasks yesterday seemed to take forever. The first of each month is always a little busy for me because it is statistics day and I do payroll for my homecare staff. Yesterday I was also uploading videos to YouTube and into my client’s Google drive, so I kept overburdening my Internet, which made it difficult to collect my statistics in a timely manner.
I just got off the phone with the nurse and the fact I do not have a fever is a good sign (I thought it would be). The nurse is sending a message to Dr. Doom and Gloom’s office, so he can decide my next steps. If I start to have any trouble breathing before they call me back, the nurse told me to go to the emergency room. My breathing will need to get really difficult to get me to go to the emergency room germ fest.
I have been a little more lightheaded than usual this morning, and I am not sure if it is low blood pressure, a low oxygen level, or a combination of both. I am coughing a little more often today, and each cough feels like it is trying to bring up crud from my lungs. My impaired lungs do not clean themselves out well because I have pathetic, tiny coughs. My coughs do not have the strength to clear out my lungs which is why it is so easy for me to catch pneumonia.
I will start getting some work done after I finish writing today’s journal entry unless Dr. Doom and Gloom decides I need to come into his office today. I did check our local transit website to make sure further cuts have not been made due to a shortage of healthy drivers. Fortunately, I do have a small box of face masks, so I can wear one if I need to catch a bus to the hospital.
I am sure I simply have a spring cold, but I am wondering how I caught it since I have been practicing appropriate personal space outside of my home. Since Megan is planning to stay here to babysit me today, I may go back to bed in a couple of hours to try to take a nap, because I am starting to get a little tired.
My piece of advice to you is to use an abundance of caution. I am making plans now because if I get to the point where I cannot sit up anymore without trying to pass out, the emergency room will be my only option.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.