Yesterday, we received countless email messages from our readers asking if something was wrong and why we didn’t post. I tried to respond to all of the inquiries. If I didn’t get back to you, I apologize. I know I’ll post again today to update everyone about our absence.
On Wednesday night, my coughing escalated so that I couldn’t sleep. I propped up two pillows under my head to lessen the coughing, to no avail. Not only was I coughing every minute, but I had an awful wheezing in my throat and upper chest. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get it under control.
At 2:00 am, I got up and used the powered nebulizer with prescription medicine, but that only helped for about 20 minutes, and the hacking began again. There are numerous cough medicines I can’t use since they interact with the heart medications. I was a mess. And I was so frustrated to think I’d be posting about more health issues when all of you have heard enough already for so long.
Once up and about, I told Tom I needed to go to urgent care, and we headed to the facility we’d gone to for Tom when he was so sick from COVID-19 in 2022. Once we arrived, we noticed so few cars in the parking lot and knew something was amiss. The clinic was closed permanently.
Since the pandemic ended, they likely didn’t get enough business to justify staying open. Looking online, I found another urgent care center in Eden Prairie, which is not far from our hotel. About 15 minutes later, we arrived at Allina Health. I suggested that Tom return to the hotel, and I called him when I was ready to leave.
But, at this location, without an “emergency entrance” sign on the building, I asked him to wait for me until I texted him that they could see me. I asked at the reception desk on the third floor if they took walk-in patients as described on their website. The receptionist said. “Oh, I need to remind our web people again to take “urgent care” off our website. People keep showing up, and we have to turn them away.” Duh?
I texted Tom that I was coming out. Off again, we went to another facility, but this time, I called to be sure they were open and receiving emergency patients. They were and said we could come by right away. By this point, I was even more exhausted and continued to cough.
It made no sense for Tom to come inside and wait for me. With him still coughing, he was vulnerable to catching another virus and didn’t need to be exposed to more germs.
After checking in, the wait “in chairs’ wasn’t too long, and once situated in the room, after two nurses took my vitals and asked questions, a nurse practitioner saw me, not a doctor. I had hoped to see a doctor. But, when I looked online to see the requirements to become a nurse practitioner, I wasn’t so disappointed. It takes quite a bit of education to acquire such a license.
Knowing I would have an x-ray, which a radiologist off-site would analyze, I felt more at ease. The NP listened thoroughly to my heart and chest sounds to say, without a doubt, that I had a lot of wheezing and chest sounds. The x-ray and radiologist’s diagnosis confirmed I have a raging upper respiratory infection.
Antibiotics and Prednisone were prescribed to be picked up at a nearby Walgreens Pharmacy. Tom arrived shortly after I contacted him, and we were off to the pharmacy. It had been about 45 minutes since the prescriptions were submitted to the pharmacy.
Once we arrived, we waited in the drive-through for a while, but I decided to go inside when the line of cars wasn’t moving. It was a long walk to the pharmacy section in this store. Once there, they told me it would be at least 30 minutes until they were ready. I returned to the car to sit there with Tom and wait. It took 35 minutes until I could go back in to get the order.
After all this commotion, I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel and get some rest. I took the meds as required and flopped in the bed, desperately needing to take a nap. I slept for over two hours while Tom listened to a podcast, the sound of which didn’t bother me a bit. By the time I awoke, it was dinner time; I didn’t have the energy to do a post so late in the day. Earlier in the day, I’d uploaded the notice that there wouldn’t be a post, anticipating it would be the long day it proved to be.
Today is a better day. After the long nap, I only slept about 5 hours last night, but I feel better. The coughing has lessened considerably in such a short time since I started the meds.
We won’t be going to Billy’s today, fearing that I may still be infectious and not feeling well enough to sit in a bar. Tom just finished washing and drying the laundry, and now I’ll fold it and put it away. There will be no cooking today. We’ll order Chinese takeaway from the fabulous restaurant in our old neighborhood.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, June 21, 2014:
