On Our Meds

Peeper and I have been not-well for several weeks now. Mostly, we've felt more or less okay, but have had a lingering cough and congestion that just won't go away. It's gotten better, worse, better several times. Over the past couple of days, mine has revved back up and I've been feeling pretty crappy.

So, off to the doctors with us!

I saw mine yesterday, and Peeper went today. We're now both taking antibiotics and hoping that it they will help.

I'm a little worried that my current yuckiness is something new and viral on top of the old, low-grade bacterial (we hope) sinusitis, but maybe it's something that the antibiotics will fix.

Peeper's doctor said that his rule of thumb is to assume that something like this is viral at first, but if it's not better within a couple of weeks, go with antibiotics. According to my doc (actually, it was a PA who saw me), when you have a viral infection or allergic reaction or whatever, and your nasal passages are swollen and inflamed, you're more susceptible to infection from every bacteria that comes flying up your nose, so that's why a cold can "turn into" a bacterial infection.

Peeper's doc said that his concern after a couple of weeks would be "another infection settling in" like bronchitis, pneumonia or sinusitis.

Peeper's lungs are clear (her coughing is from post-nasal drip), so it's just sinusitis, in her case. Whew, because when he said "that's when I worry about pneumonia . . .  " I was like "What the fuck?!"

Peeper was, of course, a model patient for the entire exam. In fact, if my camera phone had been a little faster, I would have caught her smiling up at him adoringly while he listened to her lungs, and if it had turned out as cute as it was in real life, I seriously would have offered to let them use the photo for their advertising.

Alas, I just got this one, of her looking rather forlornly at me while he listened. Not at all what was actually going on.