Still Coughing, Marginally Better

My cold is moving along, I suppose, but quite slowly. It's interesting how the symptoms come in phases, but when I try to remember how I felt yesterday, it all runs together. 

It started, as you know, with never-ending coughing. That went on for 2ish days, then there was the 'rattly gross cough' phase, then the 'more drainage' phase, then the past days have been 'more coughing with constant agitation in my airways' phase. Last night I was up until 2am when I finally calmed down enough to fall asleep. And today is less cough, since it all happened last night, but my nose is getting stuffy again.

Needless to say I am weak. I'm tired due to exhaustion. But I can't get much rest, because when I do lay down, it makes me cough. And I'm not really feeling all that much better than I did 3 days ago. I'm just feeling different sorts of sucky-ness.

However, my Josie has been cheering me up. For the past few days, she seems concerned and has been staying close near by me. So having her for my buddy has helped my mood, at least.

Napping with me in the recliner.

Thoughts on Ebola

The Ebola Microbe,
an adorable collection
of stuffed animals
shaped like microscopic
organisms.
Great gag gifts.

Ebola. The virus inciting fear in America. I can't keep track of the numbers, but a lot of people have died from it in Africa, one guy died in the USA, a few Americans were cured and survived to tell the tale, a few are currently in treatment, and a handful are being "monitored" or whatever the hell that means.

The yelly news media's coverage of Ebola is displaying everything I loathe about the news these days.

For one thing, they won't shut up about it. It's everywhere in the national news, and I'm sure it's on everyone's local stations too, I'm sure we are not an isolated case of reporting. Every single night, local news programs, who really don't have ANYTHING to worry about at this point, dedicate at least 5 minutes (1/6th of their program, remember) to talking about Ebola. Last week, KSDK had to have a segment to talk about the paranoia and fear about Ebola... that was caused due to the fact that they won't stop talking about Ebola! Does no one else see the relationship here? Cause and effect? Anyone?

Then last Friday, with the announcement of a person in NYC testing positive for ebola (which was bound to happen, it's NYC) the Today Show called in "experts" to talk about it. They started their report about what the man did the previous day, which included riding the Subway and going bowling. Then they talked to an actual doctor who said "Well, you can't catch Ebola until someone is showing symptoms." Which completely discounts everything they were just talking about, that were all things he did before he got sick! Today the conversation turned to a nurse who was quarantined because she 'might' be infected. One politician says it was unreasonable, one politician says it was completely justified. Oh waaaaa. Personally I think she's just whining and needs to get over it. But it brings me to my next point: Why in the world are they interviewing politicians about ebola? Why aren't they talking to, I don't know, doctors? And ONLY doctors? Or people in the medical field?

The news has successfully turned everyone into a bunch of whiney ebola-fear-ers. The proof was in the pudding last week as I was in Columbia for my checkup, when a lady got in the elevator. Myself and a nurse were already in there, and the lady proceeded to ask the nurse "Are you guys prepared for Ebola?" We are in for an interesting flu season, my friends. Since Ebola starts out with a fever—the same way a flu usually does—I predict many people are going to flip their shit and rush to the ER claiming they have Ebola. You just watch.

Vox has circulated the following graphic many times since the panic started:

vox.com

Calm down people. You don't have Ebola.

David Brooks wrote an interesting opinion piece about why Ebola is scaring everyone to death, and he argues that it is our culture's evasion of dealing with death itself. I feel that if the media actually aimed to inform and educate the masses, instead of trying to keep them gobbling up their news like Cookie Monster eating cookies, this might have turned out differently. For now, I'm done with the news. I am going to avoid it like the plague for a while. Or, rather, avoid it like it's Ebola...

There you have it, everything I hate about the news: non-stop coverage every day, inciting fear, discounting facts, and the public ignoring the facts even when presented with them. Gah!

John Stewart at The Daily Show summed it up quite nicely in this brilliant piece. Click here to view it.

PS—My favorite Microbe is the MRSA guy. He's the "superbug" so he wears a superhero cape, haha. Come on, you gotta laugh. Plus he's kind of cute.

I Wish They Made Vick's for Lungs

Oh my lungs... my poor lungs...

I have a cold. It came on hard and fast on Thursday, at 2:00 pm exactly. I started coughing at 2:00 and from that point on, until midnight, I didn't stop. I finally took the right combination of stuff and/or calmed down enough to get some sleep from about 12:30-5:00am, and since then it's been most of the same. I have so much throat drainage that it is causing me to continually cough. Ergo, my airways are so irritated and raw; the poor things just can't catch a break. It's not nearly as bad as last year, when I developed that mysterious cough out of nowhere and landed in the hospital at 1am, but it's still not pleasant. 

I went to the doctor's today to confirm what I had, because it could have been a sinus infection. I had my doctor here in town consult with my doc from the CF clinic, which was a good decision on my part I will say. I had never seen this doctor in the group before so she doesn't know anything about me. Furthermore, I felt she was blowing me off a little bit, not taking me too seriously, but maybe that's just her way. I just wanted to impart on her that this was NOT my normal CF stuff going on and that this was serious, we needed to do something about it quick before it throws me in the hospital. 

So it's time for the usual two weeks of oral antibiotics. I really hope I can kick this. Last time I got sick, I was able to come out of it just fine and stay on track for a while.

I guess you could say it is a blessing in disguise that this happened on a Friday. I have the entire weekend to rest and not worry about work or much else. 

My Flu Shot PSA

I'm writing what I hope to make my Annual Public Service Announcement on the Flu Shot.

I was inspired to write this, in part, due to a blog post like it from another CFer. What she wrote was so awesomely thought-out, I will do my best to not write an exact replica. So here goes...

In a week, we'll be into mid-October, which is the perfect time to get your flu shot. There is a time when it could be considered 'too early' because the antibodies you make can wear off after some time. So you want to get your shot around this time because we aren't that far away from or in to flu season, and we aren't so far away from it that come February, you would be less immune due to your super early shot.

No one likes being poked in the arm. I get it. I don't either. I have always gotten the flu shot for my entire life because I have to. My parents have too. Jarrod never did until well into our relationship, but now every year we go down to Walgreens so he can get one.

Maybe you don't feel like you need the shot, maybe you have a decent immune system. But I'm going to bet that you know someone who has a lesser immune system and cannot afford to become sick; someone who is pregnant, or is under 5 years old, or is elderly, or has cancer, or has asthma, or has an autoimmune disease, or has had a transplant, or has a compromised immune system... and sometimes, you might not even know it. See, for people like us the flu is not some thing where we catch it, get some Tamiflu, take a couple days off work, and then we're good to go. The flu is a BIG flippin' deal, and could potentially send us into the hospital for a few days, or more depending on the person.

You might be thinking 'Well, if YOU get the shot, and if I catch the flu, why do I still need the shot? You already got one, so we're good.' Wrong. Yes, I get the flu shot, but it has been studied and it is unknown as to how effective it is due to the immune system being compromised, therefore less capable of building up the antibodies needed to create my own personal flu shield.

Getting a shot may be a personal decision, but the spread of germs is not. Germs do not discriminate between old or young, healthy or sick. Germs spread everywhere, especially during "cold and flu season" when we're all cooped up with each other. So if you decide not to get vaccinated this year, you should realize that viruses like the flu take a day or so to even show symptoms, meaning you could unknowingly pass them on to everyone you know. But most of all, please realize that your health choices impact more than just you and your immediate household.

Whether you get the flu shot or not, you should also realize that you NEED to stay home if you're sick—no excuses like 'Well I have to work' or 'It's Thanksgiving, I haven't seen everyone in a while.' For the sake of everyone else, take one for the team, and stay home. Trust me, anyone who can identify with the list above will thank you later.