Monday, November 16, 2009

I'm Alive!!!

Yes, its true. I barely made it through last week, but i am indeed breathing (thankfully) and still kickin'. I woke up last sunday feeling very tired and lethargic in general. This isn't entirely abnormal for me because of my weird schedule and chronic lack of sleep. But after being awake for about two hours i suddenly started developing a very deep chest cough. By that night i was beginning to get the whole body ache/chills thing going on. My first thoughts were either pneumonia or swine flu. Because i'm "high risk" due to my asthma and the fact that i just don't have time to be on my death bed, i went straight to the doctor on monday morning. Good news = no swine flu or pneumonia (the doc used the word "yet" with pneumonia, which was somewhat disconcerting). Bad news = i couldn't breathe and had a pretty nasty rhinovirus (what causes the common cold). My asthma was out of control, so for the first time in years i acquired an inhaler to open my lungs. By friday most of the cold was gone (except for sinus issues) and i wasn't coughing nearly as much but i still couldn't breathe...and EVERYTHING tired me out. I was really concerned because my lungs wouldn't expand which found me back at the doctors. highlight of the day = the nurse taking me for a walk around the practice several times so we could determine if i was losing oxygen when in motion. Other patients kept looking at us weird as we kept circling (walking very fast) back through the lobby. I cracked a few jokes about walking patients instead of dogs, my squeeky shoes, etc. And then found that not only was i not losing oxygen, but, and i quote," your lungs sound great and look perfect". So why can't i breathe? apparently my lungs are not a fan of the dry, higher altitude air and poor air quality that gets trapped in the salt lake valley here during the winter. excellent. first the skin, now the lungs. East coast anyone? I will say, however, that i am feeling much better despite my still feeling tired. Not that any of you needed all these details but honestly its my blog so i'll write what i want while i'm bored at school :). In other news, i went to my new ward yesterday for church and LOVED it. Definitely where i'm supposed to be and can't wait to just jump into activities and make some friends. Okay i'm done.