Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Crud report


So (inevitably) Miss D. started showing the same symptoms as myself.  We toddled off to the doctor this morning to get an official diagnosis of what ails us, and the appropriate treatment.  (My diagnosis of 'crud' or 'the dreaded lurgy' is apparently considered insufficiently scientific.)

Lessons learned:

  • There are some questions that should be answered very carefully.  Example:  When your wife asks you lovingly whether there's anything she can get for you, it's not necessarily a good idea to reply "A red-headed virgin?"  Retaliation is a bitch when you can't move fast enough to get out of the way.
  • Husband and wife getting shots in the butt in the same examination room leads to hilarity.  This can cause difficulties when the nurse is laughing so hard she has to stop the injection until she recovers.
  • Saying I felt feverish was one thing.  Seeing the reading of 101.6° and realizing that I felt worse and more feverish yesterday tends to bring me down to earth with a bump.

While I collapsed into bed, Miss D. (who's feeling less under the weather than I am) picked up our prescriptions, and I woke to pills, cough medicine and an inhaler.  Hopefully they'll help both of us shake off this stuff within two to three days.

Seriously, people, be warned:  this crud is nasty.  Don't hesitate to seek professional help if you get it.

Peter

9 comments:

Jennifer said...

Fell better soon and keep that crud over there, thanks.

Sport Pilot said...

I went through it last week Peter...Doctor described it as a mutated bad cold...aka...the crud...treatment one steroid shot in the rear, a five day z-pack and something to break up the congestion. I then took it easy for a few days and let the meds and time put me to rights. I hope the two of you do the dame.

Paul said...

Got a flu shot earlier. Wife didn't. She has been fighting stuff all winter. So far I am pretty clean. Not that I recommend flu shots or point out to my wife the difference.

lee n. field said...

"Don't hesitate to seek professional help if you get it."

If you can afford it.

Old NFO said...

Yep, this stuff going around IS nasty... And if you DON'T get treated, it hangs around for a couple of weeks or longer...

TheAxe said...

Get well soon!

On a Wing and a Whim said...

I got a flu shot. I'm on week four/round two of being sick (hadn't gotten over the previous crud, so I didn't immediately recognize that I was getting sicker with something new.)

Peter didn't. He's feeling much sicker than me, despite having missed what got me four weeks ago and hung on since despite doc visits and medication.

DaddyBear said...

I don't want a red-headed virgin. I want a red-head that's been around the block a couple of times, likes her whiskey straight up, and can re-assemble an M-16 in the dark.

I'm starting to fight off one of my semi-yearly sinus infections. I'm hoping to stay out of the doctor's office this year.

Mike_C said...

Hope you two feel better soon.
Husband and wife getting shots in the butt in the same examination room leads to hilarity
Hah! During my medical training I once walked into an examination room (the schedule said there was a new male patient) and found an elderly Russian couple, each stripped to the waist*, with the wife sitting on the examination table and the husband standing just to the right with one hand on her shoulder and the other holding her right hand. I blurted out something like "Oh gosh, excuse me!" shut the door and hastily retreated. My clinic mentor, an American-trained Russian, happened to walk by and asked why I was standing in the hallway instead of seeing patients. I started to explain, but he soon burst out laughing. "You see that all the time back home, it's more efficient for the doctor to see them together. And some people use it to "sneak in" without their own appointment. Why, what did you think was going on in there?"

*I should add our cardiology patients are indeed asked to strip to the waist, but a patient is always given a gown to wear. Apparently the aide, expecting only the man to be seen (per the schedule) gave them one gown, and rather than have one do without, they decided that they would share the burden, so to speak. Kind of sweet, really, but I was not used to seeing anyone half-nekkid in the clinic, much less a pair of Russians in their 80's.

a five day z-pack ... I hope the two of you do the dame.
Dr. Freud, your slip is showing! More seriously, in this new era of fly-by-night medical care and lack of continuity, anyone taking warfarin (Coumadin) should be careful of azithromycin (Z-pak) as it dramatically increases INR (makes you more likely to bleed). Make sure the prescriber knows you on are warfarin; an alternative antibiotic may be indicated. I've had people come in with INRs above 9 (=wicked high) due to taking a Z-pak they had laying around. ("The pediatrician prescribed it for my grandson, but he never took it, so ....") That said, it is critical that anyone on warfarin, especially for a mechanical heart valve, should never stop warfarin on his own without medical advice and supervision. That way leads to device failure, strokes, and all manner of really terrible bad stuff. Finally, lots of medications interact with warfarin. When getting any new prescription (not to mention some OTC herbals), always remind the doctor that you are on warfarin and ask about interactions.

@DaddyBear: I like the way you think!