creepier

Finished the Z-pak on Friday, and Friday happened to be the worst day yet... clearly, Azithromycin not working for me. Coughing worse; hardly thought that could be possible. Also ears hurting. Burning probes into my skull. And little conversations going on in my head... wheezing. The first time I heard it, I thought my cats were having some tiff out on the porch. Then I realized it was inside my head and happened upon exhaling. Freaked me out.

Kev doing well... the Z-pak helped him.

So... we got up very early Saturday morning and made it to Urgent Care upon opening. I have a viral influenza... and also bronchitis, sinus infection and ear infections.

Mucus R Me.

Got a different antibiotic to try this time for my ear infections. Doc said I will have problems finding antibiotics that work well for me due to my issues last year and all the antibiotics I had then. Likely the reason the Z-pak didn't work for me this time. Doc also gave me an albuterol inhaler for the wheezing. He also suggested taking Robitussin DM plus a Vicodin for cough control. And that truly worked. I have finally gotten some sleep.

The ears feel better today, so it appears the Bactrim is working. The Urgent Care doc suggested not driving for 3 days and following up with my family doctor on Tuesday to make sure the ears are improving. Problem is, of course, with the vertigo I’ve had... doesn’t mix well with ears full up of crap. And vertigo doesn't mix well with driving.

The inhaler isn’t doing much for the wheezing. The sounds being made inside my air tubes are odd. Quite early this morning I woke up from a dream about people arguing, and I realized my wheezing sounded like people arguing. Is that progress? From coughing keeping you awake to wheezing waking you up...? Yes, I think that's progress.

Then later I kept hearing E.T. in my head. And then little aliens. It’s really not as entertaining as it sounds. You know how it is... once you’re aware of something, you really, really notice it. I’m tired of listening to the wheezing to try and determine what it sounds like now. Sick and tired of it. Ha!

Speaking of dreaming... I took a “short” nap this morning at 10:30am, and I woke up about 2:30pm... which comprised some of the deepest sleep I’ve had in 5 days. Nice. But I also had a weird dream. And... I’ve had this same weird dream 3 times now in the past year. I don’t know if it’s the drugs or what...

Here’s the short version... In this dream, I am at home, with Kev, Joyce & Sam, and I suddenly remember that we had put our 3 cats away in the basement with the door shut, which we had done because some company we had over was allergic to cats... And we had forgotten to let the cats back out... forgotten for weeks. Weeks. All 4 of us forgot to let the cats out of the basement for weeks. And the basement... creepy, dark place, not like our basement at all. We rush to the basement, and the 3 cats are the feline equivalent of concentration camp survivors or starving children in Africa. Joyce and I had trouble getting the cats to come to us, but when they finally did, they were affectionate. We fed them, and they ate and ate and ate, and they drank a ton of water.

That’s pretty much it. Except that one of the cats is Taffy, a Siamese mix I had for years who died in 1992 (of a heart attack... old age). I wake up feeling so bad, so ashamed of myself for forgetting the cats for so long and feeling so sad, like crying. Poor, poor starving cats.

Very weird.

Let the analyses begin.

(Hint: pain killers + dextromethorphan and guaifenesin.)