Being sick while chronically ill is hard. Like, really hard! Normal colds already last longer for us than the average person, thanks to our overworked immune systems… But I got to come down with an even better virus (please tell me you could taste the sarcasm there)! (This post will probably contain a lot of sarcasm, FYI.)

It looks like this cold plans to stick around for the 4 weeks. Minimum.

Luckily, my sinus infection seems to have cleared up, almost entirely! Though pollen season is starting, meaning my sinuses are clogged again. I don’t think my sinuses are very swollen, however, due to a lack of sinus headaches!

A few days ago, through Thursday, I thought I was finally starting to feel better! Friday, however, was awful! My doctor did warn me that this virus tends to be a roller coaster: cruddy, better, cruddy, better, rinse & repeat. I was really hoping that I would just slowly get better.

Then, I woke up coughing. I had a little tickle Thursday, but I summed it up to allergies. Friday, I woke up and immediately started hacking. Hacking like I haven’t hacked in years. Wonderful, just wonderful. They weren’t dry coughs, but I wouldn’t call them very productive. I took cough syrup, and went about my day.

As the day wore on, however, things got worse. By 10pm, not even cough syrup could slow the constant coughing. I managed to cough enough from 9pm until midnight to lose my voice (almost completely). My throat feels as though it’s bleeding, and I keep gasping for air.

Poor Dan didn’t get to sleep until way last his bedtime because I kept needing things from him: medicine, the humidifier being set up, more medicine, and a cough drop. Yes, a cough drop. No, it’s very much not approved on my LEAP/MRT diet… But Dan reminded me that sleep is one of the most important things when sick, so if it will help it’s necessary. It did manage to slow the coughing somewhat, so, totally worth it! (I’m still coughing a lot, but now I can catch my breath before my next cough.)

I’m writing this post at 2am Saturday morning because I’m still massively struggling. My throat hurts horribly (I’m going to use some chloraseptic spray soon; you don’t swallow it, so it should be okay), I’m coughing a lot, my ribs and abs are sore from coughing and I’m just hoping I don’t bruise a rib (it’s happened before), my neck/shoulders/upper back are tense and sore from the coughing fits, I have horrendous hip/pelvis nerve pain, and my head throbs when I cough. I’m also getting random dizzy spells, which may be due to hyperventilating, and my low fever is back. Overall, this is awful!

(Handout from urgent care)  Pic is from my Insta story

I did start antibiotics today, though not for my cold… I managed to get my thumb horribly infected. All of my hangnails get infected when they tear (same thing happens if the skin splits around my nails). Usually, I can get the infection to clear up in a few days… Not this time. I finally went to urgent care when it wasn’t even mildly improved after a week! Apparently, I was doing pretty much everything right, I just needed some oral antibiotics to finish it off! I’m hoping they’ll also help boost my immune system enough to finally get over this virus. (I do realize antibiotics won’t help a virus directly. I’m thinking there may be a small bacterial component, which is drawing from my immune system, that the antibiotics can wipe out.)

I really hope I’m not still coughing like this in the morning… And I hope I can get some good sleep tonight!