At least, that's what I keep telling myself right now, because I'm cracked like whoa.
The current issues:
* Lungs - still crappy, although on the mend. When I say crappy, I mean that I still have an reedy, vibratory wheeze with each exhale, but no longer with every inhale. The cough is just as productive, but less frequent. I ditched the generic female incontinence panties. PROGRESS!
* Mouth - last night the stitches in my jaw unraveled (or okay fine, I think I actually untied them with my tongue), and the hole goes clear to China. I stuck a chlorhexidine mouthwash-soaked cotton swab in there experimentally, and it would have kept going but I quit when all of the cotton on the end of the swab had disappeared because GROSS, VOMIT, NO. It's pretty painful, but not unbearable and I think it would hurt more if there was an active infection. I'm using a pointy-tipped syringe loaded with chlorhexidine mouthwash to blast the hole out twice a day, which feels exactly as amazing as it sounds it might, but I am VERY interested in not needing another course of Levaquin any time soon, because I don't think my bone marrow could take it.
* Hematology - right. I shared this with the facespace but not on here: we figured out What Ails Me from a hematological standpoint. And by "we" I mean Hotter, who remembered that Levaquin shuts down my bone marrow temporarily every time I take it. Since the hysterectomy, my H&H can generally afford to take the hit, and since I don't have many antibiotic options, we all just try not to think about it. Two dental surgeries and a car wreck, apparently, was pushing it, blood-volume-wise and stress-wise, and stress triggers the ITP-type** mishegas I am prone to. Durr. I actually said to him, while filling the Levaquin, that I refused to even think about what it'd do to my plans for my yearly "happy birthday, America" blood donation (I have a rare blood type and aim for 7/4 and my birthday, which are six months apart). Apparently I kept my word. Here is what I am talking about with the bruising:
Figure One: This is a mosquito bite on my upper thigh. I scratched it, with such restraint that I did not even break my incredibly-fragile skin (I think the steroids I am currently on helped minimize the reaction to the bite, at least). That light scratching caused this huge bruise.
Figure Two: This is what a single-attempt, painless, successful IV placement looks like on me after a few days.
Figure Three: Look, kids! Purpura!
Figure Four: This is my right knee. It IS bruised, because of COURSE it is, it's MINE! But the angry-looking red-purple stuff is scar tissue. That is the color a seven-month-old scar is on me.
Figure Five: This is my left knee. The right one LOOKS worse, but at least the skin is closed. Both knees ate the same curb in mid-December and this whole purple area would slide right off if I scrubbed it with a rough cloth and bleed like a sumbitch. Collagen defects, man. Such assholes! And yes, my legs are mad hairy--would YOU pick up a razor in my shoes?
* General - Generally, I think I am on the mend. We figured out a way to keep my BP up high enough that I don't gray out (it involves off-label use of other people's prescriptions, so I won't go into specifics, except to say that this is a medication I have my own prescription for but just can't afford to fill so it's Not That Evil), which is good, because I have to work tonight. I am still having a lot of symptoms of low Potassium despite supplements and crazy Potassium-rich foods. Not really sure what more I can do about that besides wait it out.
Other than that, Hotter and the boys are good, work is okay, and I am concerned about my ability to get through tonight but we really need the money (we're overdrawn, again, ALREADY, and the back-rent is late and so is the child support). Tonight I'll be filling in in an area of work that isn't usually My Thing, but comes with the potential to earn tips, and THAT is very exciting. Some cash money could at least keep us in milk, bread, and rabbit chow (all of which we are very nearly out of) until...god. I have no idea how we're going to make it through to the next payday. I rearranged my sidebars some and am still selling ads, so if you have something you'd like to promote, now would be a great time to speak up. And if any of you are secretly Bill Gates, then by all means show the Donate button some love. I CAN UNTIE SUTURES IN MY GUMS WITH MY TONGUE, BILL. CAN MELINDA DO THAT? CALL ME.
How are all of YOU?
** I say "ITP-type" because what I have isn't actually idiopathic. There's a name for it, something to do with fibrinogen and protein activity levels, but I do not fully understand that and also the fibrinogen protein whatchamacallit doesn't explain why my platelets take the odd nosedive, resulting in purpura (among other nasty things). So probably ITP would be a pretty good handle for What Ails Me, hematology-wise, but an actual MDeity has never written that on a chart of mine that I know of and I don't like to self-diagnose.
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