Sick Hubby

Ted is sick.

He's been miserable for a WEEK now.

So sick, in fact, that he didn't go to work at all this past week...and will probably not go back until at least the middle of next week.

He even called the doctor's office first thing Monday morning, and they had him come over right away. He was there by 7:45 am.

He was diagnosed with sinusitis and prescribed an antibiotic.

He has not had a fever throughout this, but has had coughing bouts that last an eternity. He was coughing so hard that he threw up quite a few times. Then that gave him a headache. When he didn't throw up, the coughing made him dizzy. He has been having trouble catching a breath, and hasn't slept worth a crap in a week. It seems that the only way he can sleep is sitting up, and it has to be almost leaning forward. The recliner doesn't help him. He gets so worn out that he tries to lie down, but that only lasts for about 10 minutes. He coughs all night long, on and off. His ribs ache from the coughing too.

Thursday he called the doctor's office and told them that he wasn't any better and the coughing was worse. They called in a prescription cough medicine with codeine. Ahhhhhhhh...that should have helped. It did, just maybe a tad.

Yesterday afternoon he called me at work to tell me that he had another doctor's appointment for 4 pm. I told him that I would take him. His coughing was bad again and he felt like crap. When I got home from work, he was in the midst of a coughing bout that lasted for almost 2 hours. There was about a 15 second window of silence between each series of coughs. Poor guy.

The doctor said that this "crud" that he's dealing with has not gotten any better and has now moved down to his lungs. He's wheezing a little now. The doctor prescribed prednisone (which I dearly LOVE because it makes my knees feel better!) and an inhaler. Doc also said that these things might make him cough a little more for the first 24 hours, but then should help him feel better.

Well, we're 24 hours into it, and I think we may possibly have turned a corner. At the very least, he's no worse. I consider that an improvement.

He has told me repeatedly that he feels miserable. He has asked me if he’ll ever get better. He has even said that he thinks that he is going to die from this infection.

Most men I know don’t handle being sick very well. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

I know he doesn’t feel well. We can all tell. I gently reminded him that this is fairly similar to what I had last fall, except I had bronchitis. I also told him that he WILL get better. Eventually. Today I told him that when I was a week into my sickness last fall I had a routine appointment with my oncologist. (I’d already been to the regular doctor and was on all kinds of medication.) My oncologist told me that it would take another two weeks before I felt half way decent. He was right.

Today Ted is one week into this, so that means another two weeks of not feeling so great, but slowly improving. I wish we could fast forward to that point now.

I feel bad for him, but I’m also a little selfish:

I do NOT want to get this bug.
I can NOT get this bug.
I will NOT get this bug.

I’m sure the boys won’t get it…that never happens.

Get better soon Ted!