February 2009: A Month of Illness

I am so tired of February already. Thank goodness it is a short month. I'm not sure how much more I can take. I now seem to have whatever DH and Luke had last weekend. Fever of 100.1 (with required shivering) and nausea that comes and goes. I was tired when I woke up, I took a short nap instead of eating lunch (not hungry anyway), and I'm getting more tired as the evening progresses. I'll probably go to bed when Luke does in about 20 minutes.

I also spent a good chunk of the day trying not to worry about DH. He's been having some stomach issues for nearly a week now. This man has "white coat syndrome" big time! Doctors, hospitals, and especially needles all terrify him. So when he said to me Monday night that he was going to call and make an appointment to see a doctor, with absolutely no prompting from me, I just about freaked out (though I think I hid it pretty well, covering with a nice "I think that's probably a good idea"). His appointment was today at Noon.

Apparently, they were not having a good day at the office. He waited nearly an hour to be taken to a room and have his vitals taken, and that doesn't count the 30 minutes early that he arrived to fill out paperwork. So at 1 PM, the doctor comes in and apologizes profusely that this is not normal for them. He does a full and complete physical, and they discuss DH's symptoms. He also ends up with a urine test, drawn blood, an EKG, X-rays of his chest and abdomen, and an ultrasound on his heart and thyroid. He has now been diagnosed with congestion (duh, we knew that), fluid behind his ear drum (most likely from the congestion), a knot on his thyroid (detected by feel), a heart murmur (first we've heard about it!), and a hiatal hernia (causing the symptoms that sent him there in the first place). The heart murmur was the biggest shock, since he always had to get a physical to play sports in high school, and no one ever mentioned it. What, he turns 32 and falls apart? Sheesh! He was there from 11:30-3:30.

The congestion isn't bad enough to require anything more than OTC meds if DH feels he needs them, so unless he gets an ear infection with the fluid, there's nothing to do there. The thyroid and heart murmur will just be monitored to make sure there are no changes going forward. The hiatal hernia is being treated with prescription meds and time, for now. He has a follow up in 4 weeks. It was supposed to be a 3 week follow up, but we'll be in Florida, and the doctor had no problem with us proceeding with the trip as long as DH does not start experiencing abdominal pain between now and then. Guess it's a good thing we're taking a nurse with us who has worked in gastroenterology for nearly 20 years! (That would be my mom.)

Is it March yet? February has not exactly been the best month for us. Now, given the choice, I'd rather do all of this now than when we are at Disney, but my goodness! Will it ever end?

Currently feeling: ready to move on to March