How strange it is to think that most of December is actually fall, not winter. I feel funny calling this a Fall Health Update because…it’s now after Christmas, but I guess that’s just how it goes.

October

Thankfully October was a pretty quiet month, I saw my infectious disease doctor but since I had a CT in July we couldn’t get one done then (thanks, insurance), so there really wasn’t much to talk about. We had hoped the results from my genetic testing I had done in February would be in, but they weren’t, so that was a quick visit.

November

November brought along a much anticipated visit to the eye doctor. The last time I visited this one was four years ago and they had given me some reading glasses. Two years ago I visited one in Hershey because all of a sudden I noticed my vision had changed significantly and my doctor was worried one of the antibiotics I had recently taken had messed with them. I saw an ophthalmologist and then an optometrist when the ophthalmologist determined my eyes were healthy, so it must just be my vision changing. They gave me a glasses prescription that was to help with distance but wasn’t very strong.

This time, Andrew and I both went together and they were all amazed at how bad my eyes had gotten, especially since the last time I was there. I knew they had been getting worse so for once, I decided to not strain to figure out what the letters were. I knew I wanted what was best long term for my eyes, so if I struggled at all to read a line, I said I couldn’t read it.

I had also determined I wanted to try contacts since I was always taking my glasses off to take pictures. Andrew got glasses to help while he’s on the computer, since he actually has really good eyesight (jealous), he just works on a computer all day and gets headaches from that.

I got new glasses and actually, I am surprised at how much I like them. They have a younger look to them, I suppose, and they make me feel more writer-y (and generally, writers need all the help they can get with feeling like an actual writer, am I right?) but I also got contacts so I don’t have to wear the glasses all the time, which is great because now I can cuddle on the couch with Andrew and watch TV without having to hold my head in an awkward position because otherwise my glasses move or are super uncomfortable. That’s a win in my book! It took a little getting used to, and at first a lot of hemp oil and hydrocort to be able to mess with my eyes like that, but it has gotten easier and has ceased to stress my body out the way it had initially.

December

November tends to be when I get sick “for the winter” and it can last all the way until spring at times. This year, I wondered what would happen since I am no longer working retail.

Well, I’ve been sick for a month now, so I guess we see how that went.

It hasn’t been a bad cold or anything too crazy, just enough to be annoying and keep me from singing. The two weeks I woke up feeling like I had a fever (I didn’t) and realized I had been a little achy the night before, but by the afternoon I was feeling much better and had no issues. Come to find out later, my little brother had also woken up that day feeling lousy, but he actually got a fever and it went on longer than mine did.

The Monday after that, I was wearing my contacts and had been all day, so when I took them out that night I was a little surprised to find my eyelids felt slightly swollen but didn’t think much of it because it was a long day and I was tired. Then I woke up at three in the morning and noticed my right eye was a bit gunky. It just got worse from there. It slowly got all red looking and then by the next morning my eyelid ended up swelling so much I could hardly open my eye. It got a bit better as the day went on, and then I noticed my left eye was starting to get it, too. I called the doctor and since I hadn’t been to see them in two years, they made me go in to see someone, but I couldn’t go until the next day.

I’m thankful to work where I do because I was able to just text the pastor and tell him I’d have to leave work the next day for an appointment, if I was even well enough to make it to works beforehand. My mom was to come pick me up to drive me since my eyes had been watering so much it felt like I was crying and made it difficult to drive very far.

I wasn’t thrilled about having to go to the doctor’s when my already suppressed immune system was even more weak thanks to my eyes and cold, but we went and thankfully we weren’t stuck in the waiting room for very long. I was seen by a PA I’d never seen before but my mom had experienced (one time, Jacob caught his face on fire and saw this PA) and she wasn’t a big fan, but he walked in and had decided right away I was going on antibiotics. I got oral antibiotics and eye drops, which were fun to find for me since I’m allergic to the most commonly used eye drops thanks to my many antibiotic allergies. The oral antibiotic was Cefdinir, something I hadn’t been on since I was a child, and the eye drops were neomycin and polymyxin b sulfates and gramicidin ophthalmic solution, which was all in one bottle despite how it sounds.

It was such an odd appointment because I am used to being asked tons of questions, reviewing all my allergies and current medications, and pretty much telling my life story, but he didn’t ask. My allergies and med list was updated in June when I ended up in the ER thanks to an allergic reaction to Bactrim so I guess he was content to simply treat my current problem.

I went back to work after the appointment and I found out the man who signs my checks was there and he had the flu, so I stressed out a little about that and made a mental note to grab a medical mask from home and some sanitizing wipes. I stopped at the pharmacy to get the oral antibiotics. They only had five of them on hand, so they had to order more, and they also had to order the eye drops since they were so obscure. Yeah, I like being complicated.

Getting the eye drops the next day was amazing. They started to look and feel better instantly and between my first and second use the whites of my eyes started looking a little less bright red. It was so fast. Antibiotics are pretty epic.

So I finally got the eye drops last Friday, Monday I saw my ID doctor and had a CT done. There are a bunch of little spots that are new in my lungs, but since I have a cold she wonders if it is something viral or bacterial, since I’ve had that happen before. She decided to put me on Augmentin instead of Cefdinir since I was prescribed a low dose of that for a “sinus infection” (I didn’t really have one, but the PA thought my eyes were bad enough that I needed more than just the drops. I was okay with that because I hoped it would help the random sore throats I’ve been getting to go away, since I’ve found before with these sore throats, an antibiotic is the only thing that will kick them) and she hoped it would take care of whatever is brewing in my lungs before I see her again in six weeks.

On Andrew’s birthday. Happy birthday, babe!

As long as insurance allows it, of course. If not, she will try to get me to NIH for one instead. She planned to call the person I work with at NIH to ask about the genetic testing (since we should have heard by now and still haven’t) and to let them know about the CTs, but that was the day before Christmas Eve, so I don’t know if they spoke or not. I guess time will tell!

I stop the eye drops today, so we will see if it comes back or not. Thankfully there is more in the bottle and I think it won’t hurt me to self medicate a little if need be since I know my body and it takes a long time to heal. I’ll wait until I get new contacts to try wearing them again so I don’t accidentally give myself the same thing again, and we will give that another go!

The upcoming month of January appears to be quiet, I don’t have any doctor appointments scheduled but I’m sure it will be spent trying to avoid getting sick again so I am healthy enough for my next CT. I get to start wearing medical masks around people who haven’t gotten the flu shot, so I will be attempting to dance ballet with even less oxygen than normal. Pray for me, y’all.

Till next time!