You’re Fired!

This is what I was tempted to tell my immune system only a few short days ago. Pack your bags, we are through! Useless is what you are!

Fortunately for my well being, I relented and cut the ol’ gal some slack. I figure I am sort of pregnant, so maybe my immune system isn’t entirely focused on me right now.

It all started about three weeks ago.. We were sitting in the living room when someone says, ‘My throat kind of hurts..’ (It was either Ian or Sheree, but I can’t remember who started the conversation.) The other agreed. I just looked at both of them and told them to stay away. After the cold I had at Christmas I was not interested in getting another while pregnant.

A few days later.. Sore throat. Runny nose. Hacking cough. Stuffy ears. It seemed every day I woke up with a new symptom. It was awesome.

Fast forward about a week and a half, and I am still sick and now have absolutely no sense of taste or smell. This makes life interesting. Also, Aed now has the runny nose and hacking cough. He quickly develops the nickname ‘snot vampire’ as snot was constantly dripping down his face. Also awesome.

Then last Thursday night I went to bed with a really bad headache right through my forehead. I woke around 2am with a splitting headache and really intense pain in my ears. I began to freak out as I felt pressure continue to build in my head, so Ian decided to call NHS 24. While I sat feeling like someone was piling burning coals into my ears, Ian talked to a very nice man on the phone who said to take paracetamol (tylenol) at regular intervals and call the GP for an appointment in the morning. I personally was ready to call an ambulance right there and then. I am telling you, my head was going to explode.

I wasn’t able to sleep well at all, even with the paracetamol. In the morning, Ian called the GP and informed me that my appointment was at 12:15 that afternoon. I immediately had a break down because I knew I couldn’t wait that long for some kind of relief from the intense pain. He called back after seeing my desperation and they were able to move my appointment to 11:30. Bravo. (I wasn’t feeling very gracious towards the GP at that moment :)

So I spent the morning in tears waiting and waiting for the minutes to tick by. Finally we headed out and the doctor concluded that nothing was wrong with my ears (at which point I was rendered speechless by the impossibility of that) and that I had a sinus infection. I went home with an antibiotic, the instructions to not take any paracetamol unless I really needed it, and the feeling that there was no way she had adequately understood how much pain I was experiencing.

After a few hours and more tears, my left ear started leaking. While this wasn’t a great sign for the state of my eardrum, it did provide some relief from the pressure, and I felt much more justified in my suspicion that my ear pain was unrelated to the state of my sinuses (the doctor thought my ear pain was actually being caused by a sinus infection). So a sinus infection and a ruptured eardrum. That’s an awesome combo right there.

I was tortured with it all day Saturday to the point that Ian called NHS 24 again just to make sure things were ok since the doctor had not seen whatever was wrong with my ear initially, and that’s where all my pain was focused (I have such a good hubby!).

Fortunately, Sunday brought with it some relief and things have been improving since. Two and a half weeks later and I still sound sick, can’t hear very well out of my left ear, and have a daily headache, but I can taste and I can smell! And I’m not feeling the need to seclude myself from all noise by staying in the bedroom all day!

I’m not sure I have ever been more thankful for the returning of some senses I had dearly missed, and the absence of some pain I will be glad to forget. Needless to say, I am quarantining myself next time I hear someone thinking aloud that they may be getting sick! I am in no hurry to repeat this experience :)