Whatever happened to predictability...

What to do when the common cold and flu messes with your treatment plans

There are no sick days with this gig, but there are grandparents! And that is a major perk.

Like I say in that intro column to the right (or bottom of the page, if you’re not on a computer), between all of us in this house, there is always a story. Matt left on Friday for a 7-day work trip to NYC so strep throat decided to come visit me! I was already tired and run down when he left (thanks to a night of legendary rock and roll with Jack White earlier in the week). By Sunday my throat was on fire, and Monday’s aches and chills brought me to my doctor’s office where a rapid strep test quickly came out positive.

Thankfully my parents swooped in, collected the girls from pre-school and school, delivered them to and from activities and had them sleep over - even though it was a school night. They got them back into the city and off to pre-school and school Tuesday morning and collected them again. They were slated to sleep over with Grandma and Grandpa that night anyway, because I had a full day appointment scheduled for Wednesday (sadly no, not at the spa), which also happened to be a PD day - no school. So another sleepover went ahead.

I didn’t have to deal with any children in the night (the three-year-old comes in our room “scared” every.damn.night and proceeds to toss and turn and kick me in the back until morning). I got ELEVEN hours of sleep IN A ROW, I read an entire novel, I caught up on some TV. By Wednesday morning I was feeling pretty rested. Not so sure my parents could say the same thing. So by Wednesday afternoon I went off to collect them and now we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming, mind you all three of us have head colds.

But this is not how Wednesday was supposed to be. The blog post I had in mind this week was going to be about my Wednesday plans. Again, in that intro for the blog, I talk about how I strive to balance my life, “All while living with an unpredictable and chronic illness: Crohn’s Disease, and all that comes with it.” And in my about me section, which you’ve all read of course, I express how “I’d like to focus more on my experiences with chronic illness to help myself, those around me, and maybe a reader or two who just needs to know they are not alone.”

I haven’t done much of that yet, so my planned post for this week was going to be about my appointment for my treatment for Crohn’s. But I can’t have that treatment, which I normally receive every 6 weeks, if I’m sick with a cold, flu, fever or on antibiotics. This week I can tick 3 of those boxes, so no treatment. It’s delayed 12 days, which is a gamble with my health but there’s absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. I’m on a 10-day course of penicillin and I have to be off antibiotics for 24 hours and the clinic has to fit me back into their full schedule (these appointments are booked 6-8 weeks out). Like I said, I’m “living with an unpredictable and chronic illness: Crohn’s Disease, and all that comes with it” and this is part of the package.

With that, I’m putting the missed treatment out of my head and proceeding with caution. Here’s hoping all remains stable and in a couple weeks we are back to our regularly scheduled programming. Once again.

Sick in bed, dreaming of being on the beach instead.