“I’m in love, I’m in love...

...and I don’t care who knows it!” (A quote from “Elf”) 

I’ll get to the love part in a moment.  My second title choice for this post was “Forced Cleanse”.  I’ve been under the weather recently and mostly absent from the interwebs.  It started with a false alarm.

As I sat at my desk one evening I realized I felt a little off.  Intermittently, I had to take an extra breath.  My heart was beating oddly.  That happens in my family, once in a great while we get a little flutter.  It usually lasts a few seconds and then everything is fine.  It’s not serious.  I know because one niece panics every time it happens and rushes to the hospital.  She’s had every test there is and she’s fine.  But mine didn’t go away this time.  After an hour I decided to go home.  I took my pulse to check my heart rate.  The rate was okay, but the rhythm was off.  It was randomly skipping beats altogether and occasionally adding in an extra one.  It was unsettling to feel that in my pulse—to expect to feel a beat, but feel nothing.  Six hours later I decided I should go to the hospital, just in case.  Two hours (and several tests) later, my heart was back to a normal beat.  It was a false alarm, probably brought on by washing down two Excedrin with a lime coke.  I’ve never been sensitive to caffeine before, but that seems to have changed.  I was relieved to be driving home, even if it was 3am. 

Three days later I had a fever of 101 and a slight discomfort in my left side.  I could feel I was coming down with a virus, so I started the usual routine (tea, soup, Nyquil).  The fever stayed high, so I went to see my doctor.  The virus had turned into bronchitis and my first ever CT-scan showed I had an infection caused by diverticulitis.  I started taking two antibiotics and had to go on a water, broth, applesauce diet.  The pills gave me diarrhea (that + the diet = forced cleanse).  My fever stayed high another 5 days, but finally broke on the 6^th.  The next day I broke out in hives from head to ankle (it skipped my face, hands and feet).  I was allergic to one of the antibiotics and had to stop taking them a week early.  The hives stopped itching after four days, but their shadow remains on my arms and ankles.

I’m still on a mushy diet (cottage cheese, yogurt, overly cooked fruit and veggies), but I’ve started having just a little rice and tofu for lunch. 

The love part?  Benadryl and a prescription antihistamine didn’t provide much relief from the hives (and I couldn’t take steroids because of the diverticulitis).  I was getting up twice a night to take cold showers.  For some reason, my ankles started itching the worst.  It was maddening.  But then I found relief.  Benadryl makes an anti-itch ointment that worked like magic.  I LOVE that little tube.  I love it!!!  Heaven help anyone who tried to come between us.  LOL

I’m not back to feeling like myself yet, but I’m much better.  I still have a slight pain in my side on occasion, but the doctor said that’s not unusual.  Most nights I go to bed really early (for me) because my energy levels are low.  Hopefully in a few weeks I’ll be back on my regular feed and I’ll get my strength back.

Did you miss me?  Did you even notice I was gone???  haha!