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Nov. 21st, 2002 10:50 pmLast night, whilst lying awake and wishing I wasn't, I suddenly realized something. The course this "cold" was taking was a familiar one. Familiar enough to be an annual event, in fact. Every year since we've moved to NC, usually in October or November, I have had a day of a sort of sore throat followed by anywhere from two days to a week of scratchy throat, then my cough sets in. There's also a pattern within the coughing: in the daytime it's shallower and doesn't hurt much, but as I get more tired, the coughs become deep, useless, and painful. Nights are the absolute worst, and last night I got a painful reminder.
I seriously doubt this is a common cold. For one, it seems to happen around the same time every year. For two, Andy has never "caught" it from me, despite our being married and occasionally accidentally using each other's toothbrush and such. Two years ago, when it was unseasonably warm, I didn't get my cough until mid-December, and spent most of Christmas at my in-laws' coughing or hanging out at urgent care being diagnosed with bronchitis, which lasted until mid-winter (Andy says March; he's probably correct).
I'm guessing it's the seasonal change or something in the pollen or something, and while I'll still be careful around Grandpa, I'm a lot less worried about visiting and giving him his final illness or something. I'm also finally doing something which Andy has tried to get me to do every year since this started: on Tuesday I have an appointment at Student Health. Oddly enough it's with Dr. Vimmerstedt, where I figured it'd be one of their rotating doctors or nurse practitioners. Andy figures it's because she already knows a heck of a lot of my history (having made most of said history), so even if her specialty is diabetes, she would have a better base than a GP.
I have very little fear that my cough will go away in the time I'm in Rome -- even in the non-bronchitis years it's lasted a month or so. I will be trying to suppress the cough while I'm home, but in the past it's generally proved immune to cough drops or syrups, so it'll mostly be willpower. I used to be able to suppress it when Andy was around so he wouldn't worry so much; hopefully I'll still be able to. And who knows, maybe when I get back Dr Vimmerstedt will figure out a treatment so it'll at least be under control for the December visit.
I made reservations tonight for our trip to Indy to visit Andy's parents. It looks like all of the family on his mom's side will be there. Some I'll be seeing for my second or maybe even my first time. It'll be nice paying attention to his family after spending the past few months focused on Grandpa.
Most of my day has been spent doing that. After dropping him off so he could do a demo for a man from Lawrence Livermore National Labs, I went to student health for a bunch of refills. Then I cleaned up most of an insurance-caused mess and submitted yet another claim form. I came home and packed, cleaned up the kitchen, did three loads of laundry, took care of land mines/litterbox, and other random stuff with the hopes that Andy will actually want me back ;).
Speaking of LLNL, Andy has been busy making even more contacts. Boeing bit initially, sending him a "where might you be willing to go" and including such exotic locations as Sydney, Australia (moving compensation would have to be astronomical -- it would be about $3000 apiece plus 30-90 day quarantine to bring Thena and Gail). Andy managed to catch the LLNL guy before his advisor could snatch him up and gave him an unofficial tour. Ten minutes into the "getting to know you" conversation LLNL-guy said "I think I'd like to see your resume". Twenty minutes later he said "I need to see your resume". Andy obliged.
I should probably try to get to sleep early tonight so I get enough. Airplanes make me cough on good days, and I'd rather not show up in Syracuse looking like I have a full-blown case of TB.
I seriously doubt this is a common cold. For one, it seems to happen around the same time every year. For two, Andy has never "caught" it from me, despite our being married and occasionally accidentally using each other's toothbrush and such. Two years ago, when it was unseasonably warm, I didn't get my cough until mid-December, and spent most of Christmas at my in-laws' coughing or hanging out at urgent care being diagnosed with bronchitis, which lasted until mid-winter (Andy says March; he's probably correct).
I'm guessing it's the seasonal change or something in the pollen or something, and while I'll still be careful around Grandpa, I'm a lot less worried about visiting and giving him his final illness or something. I'm also finally doing something which Andy has tried to get me to do every year since this started: on Tuesday I have an appointment at Student Health. Oddly enough it's with Dr. Vimmerstedt, where I figured it'd be one of their rotating doctors or nurse practitioners. Andy figures it's because she already knows a heck of a lot of my history (having made most of said history), so even if her specialty is diabetes, she would have a better base than a GP.
I have very little fear that my cough will go away in the time I'm in Rome -- even in the non-bronchitis years it's lasted a month or so. I will be trying to suppress the cough while I'm home, but in the past it's generally proved immune to cough drops or syrups, so it'll mostly be willpower. I used to be able to suppress it when Andy was around so he wouldn't worry so much; hopefully I'll still be able to. And who knows, maybe when I get back Dr Vimmerstedt will figure out a treatment so it'll at least be under control for the December visit.
I made reservations tonight for our trip to Indy to visit Andy's parents. It looks like all of the family on his mom's side will be there. Some I'll be seeing for my second or maybe even my first time. It'll be nice paying attention to his family after spending the past few months focused on Grandpa.
Most of my day has been spent doing that. After dropping him off so he could do a demo for a man from Lawrence Livermore National Labs, I went to student health for a bunch of refills. Then I cleaned up most of an insurance-caused mess and submitted yet another claim form. I came home and packed, cleaned up the kitchen, did three loads of laundry, took care of land mines/litterbox, and other random stuff with the hopes that Andy will actually want me back ;).
Speaking of LLNL, Andy has been busy making even more contacts. Boeing bit initially, sending him a "where might you be willing to go" and including such exotic locations as Sydney, Australia (moving compensation would have to be astronomical -- it would be about $3000 apiece plus 30-90 day quarantine to bring Thena and Gail). Andy managed to catch the LLNL guy before his advisor could snatch him up and gave him an unofficial tour. Ten minutes into the "getting to know you" conversation LLNL-guy said "I think I'd like to see your resume". Twenty minutes later he said "I need to see your resume". Andy obliged.
I should probably try to get to sleep early tonight so I get enough. Airplanes make me cough on good days, and I'd rather not show up in Syracuse looking like I have a full-blown case of TB.
