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I'm living in a country song...

You've heard that joke, "What do you get when you play a country song backwards?"

You get your dog back.  You get your truck back.  You get your wife back....


I wish I could play the country song backwards that I've been living in the last few weeks.  Only mine would look more like this...

You get your dog back.  You get your train trip back.  You get your health back. . .


First the dog.  We knew this was going to happen, and I guess it's amazing it didn't happen sooner, but our beloved LGD (livestock guardian dog) died Wednesday.  We got her as a little pup, and she's been on the job here for over 12 years.

She was bonded entirely to her livestock - definitely not a pet.  She only tolerated one person to handle her, and that was me.  But we understood one another, and it tore a large hole in my heart to lose her.

Then there was the train trip.  We were supposed to have left Friday the 26th of October to travel to West Virginia.  We were meeting up with Maria, Scott & Dad, and going to visit Heritage Farm on Saturday.  Then Sunday, Dad, Jess & I were going on the New River Train.

Well, that didn't happen.

Thursday night everything went haywire.  I felt a thump in my chest, and started having chills and nausea, and didn't sleep the entire night.  So instead of being on the road to West Virginia Friday, we were sitting in the waiting room at an Urgent Care facility.  I wanted to be sure of two things before we traveled:

  1. I wasn't contagious.
  2. It wasn't any kind of heart problem.

I've got to say, the "urgent" part of their name is a massive joke.  They had 3 people working: receptionist, nurse and doctor.  We were there about 3 hours before I had an exam, chest x-ray, flu test, bloodwork, EKG, and urinalysis done. 

I asked the doctor if I was contagious, and told the doctor I was supposed to be on the way to West Virginia.  He informed me that "YES, you are contagious, and you are too sick to go anywhere."

Great.  No trip to West Virginia and no train trip, and the money spent on those tickets, "Pouf!" They don't give refunds.


Now to expand on the health part... over the last week, I've had 3 different doctors give me six different diagnoses:

  • Bronchitis
  • Sinusitis
  • Costal Chondritis
  • Urinary Tract Infection
  • Gastritis
  • Possible Hiatal Hernia.

On the bright side, the doc in the box found no pneumonia, flu or heart problems.  He told me about the first 3 diagnosis, and gave me an antibiotic, steroid, and also prescriptions for a flu med and cough syrup.  The latter two made no sense as I did NOT have the flu, and I was NOT coughing.

At the pharmacy they said that flu med was no longer available and that they had called the doctor to get a different prescription.  I told them to forget it, because I didn't need it.

But then Sunday, a different doctor called from Urgent Care, asking me why I wanted the flu med when I didn't have the flu.  I told him I didn't want it and that I wasn't the one who prescribed it for someone who did NOT have the flu. 

Then I asked him if he had my chart in front of him, and could he tell me what all that bloodwork was they did on Friday.

He never did get specific, but just said it was negative, that the only positive labwork was the urinalysis showing I had a urinary tract infection.  Really?  The first doctor never mentioned THAT!  However, the antibiotic I was on should take care of it....

Four diagnoses down.  But though the meds did help the pain in the chest wall, the pain under my sternum was still there, along with the nausea.

So yesterday I went to see my usual doctor.  Good news is bronchitis is gone.  Bad news is the pain in my gut is gastritis.  And the "thump" I felt in my chest is likely to be a hiatal hernia, and what I felt was when part of my stomach slid through the diaphragm and up into my chest.  To get a definitive diagnosis on that would take an endoscopy, and we both agreed to skip that at present.

In the meantime, there's another medicine prescribed, and a "wait and see" on if it helps.


 


The last half of October has been a total washout for getting any work done, both online and on the house.  I'm hoping I feel well enough next week to at least get back online and start rebuilding my business.

I'm really tired of living in a country song. 


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