So, I took Kris to the doctor -- well, actually to the nurse practitioner as you can't get in to see a doctor until after Saint Valentine's Day. (Yes, I know that's a year away.) She has an ear infection. This particular strain of flu seems to bless twice. Many we have talked to have had the flu followed on by sinus infections or ear infections. I am the only one I know who has a UTI. Swell!
Kris was clever enough to start the penicillin she used in England for her fungal toe. I thought she would get a stern lecture about self-prescribing and medicating, but the nice nurse thought it was good she had started. Happy surprise! And it turns out that the English penicillin is a good fit with her bug and she now has a few more American pills to add to the mix. The penicillin was bargain-priced compared to the gold-filled Levaquin I had to purchase. I am pleased to report that she is feeling somewhat better tonight.
I have been taking my $85-an-ounce Levaquin faithfully, and thankfully it is doing the trick. (At that price it better work or there will be blood!). Levaquin has a frightening list of possible side effects (though luckily no mention of greasy stool or death). With my health anxiety I am particularly subject to feeling every nuance of difference in my state of well being from one moment to the next. I have had some tolerable side effects listed in the prescription information sheet. But a couple were listed under the category of "CALL YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY IF YOU HAVE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SYMPTOMS." My gosh! They were screaming at me in BOLD type.
Katy listened patiently as I explained my concern. She lovingly told me I was insane (anxiety is a mental illness, after all), and said I should just get over it; the warning is just the big rich pharmaceutical company covering their hiney. Because I am passive aggressive, I smiled, said she was right, then hid in the coat closet and called the doctor. He said just keep taking the gilded tablets and call him in three days. Yikes, I could be dead by then.
I have to admit that I want to be fully healed in these three short medicated days, but no such luck. It no longer feels like one is passing razor blades. It is more like passing sand now. So, I still spend lots of quality time with the Kohler ADA-approved Highline, Comfort Height, two-piece, elongated toilet.
I stayed home from school today, not because I felt lousy, but because I couldn't make it though two 1 hour 15 min. classes. Making the situation even more perilous, there are no toilets in the west end of the Joseph F. Smith building where I teach. Talk about poor planning!
Well this is probably way too much information, but there you go.
OXO
D.
9 comments:
Hello Uncle- Things aren't sounding so good over there. My whole family had the flu last week and sure enough this week we all have sinus, ear ache stuff. I have to say that you sound worse off though. What a blessing to have one of those lovely ADA toilets! We just got a couple of those put in at our house and 2 days later my back went out so that I was flat out in bed. I couldn't do anything with out John's help except get up off my lovely new toilet- so happy! :)
I can't believe you called the doctor! I hope that I will be able to overcome my own mental illnesses early in my youth otherwise I can see my future being filled with regular therapy sessions for my own personal insecurities in my relationships! I have every confidence that you will make a full recovery without dying, or getting red skin and tingling sensations in your face! I do love you... I just wish the future didn't seem so scary...
Doesn't sound fun.
Dad, I am crying and laughing all at once at your poor mental health. I don't think I am as crazy as you yet, but I may get there...hahaha.
Just get better already and be done with it!
You know Uncle Dave, I'm always amazed at the avuncular atavism that binds us. The ability to feel every sensation in the body (and worrying that each means sudden disease or death), the passive aggressivity, the appreciation for the toilet, the awareness of being crazy... I can relate so well.
And Katy, one good way to overcome the worsening of mental illnesses later is through doing therapy NOW. At least that's what I like to tell myself. Talk to me when I'm a crazy old man yelling at my neighbors and calling them "Whitey."
Hahaha- Nice Oscar reference. I am no where near as crazy as you-until I remember my arthritis diagnosis and then I remember that I may in fact be crazier. I thought for sure it was cancer but it was just arthritis. The doctor thought I was insane and you know what I am. Here's a toast to mental illness! Ratatouille!
Will: avuncular atavism! You have been studying way too much. I had to do a dictionary search to keep up. I liked what I saw, however. "Avuncular: Resembling an uncle, especially in kindness or indulgence."
To my dear children: sorry. At the marriage age I had no idea I was crazy and went right ahead and married, had babies, and passed on my peculiar collection of genes and predispositions. Will, I can't account for you, except that "Whitey" and I share the same gene pool. And certainly, atavism will explain some it.
Ratatouille right back at you all.
D.
Well we know I am crazy! Thats why I call at least twice a day to get an organ recital, because I just have to make sure you are not dead or dying!
Dickie, when I memorized my list of terms in preparation for the GRE, I learned both of those words. I'm not a big fan of using words like "celerity" instead of "speed." Or using "veracious" instead of "truthful." I choose the good old Anglo-Saxon synonym any time I can.
I only stoop to Latin, Norman French, or even Greek (despite my philhellenism) synonyms when I have to. All of those non-Germanic terms have historically been (and still can be) used to enforce class distinctions and to belittle the language of the good old everyday English commoner. Somehow, it still all strikes me as snobbery.
I only reach for such synonyms when I am using the same idea a lot in a passage and want to avoid irritating repetitions. Even then they can seem risky.
I saved the words from my list (only ca. 500 - about a sixth) that expressed complex ideas in a way no other single word can. I review these from time to time. The rest I ditched.
I mean, a word like "avuncular"? How else do you get that notion across with just one word? I do appreciate words like that, "atavism," "solecism," and others that allow me to get a complex idea across efficiently.
Anyway, the way I remembered "avuncular" when I was memorizing my list was thinking "like Uncle Dave."
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