My last entry, written last Sunday, indicated that maybe I’d caught the virus, and – if so – it wasn’t all that terrible. Man. I need to learn when to keep my mouth shut. Six days later, I’m not going to make that mistake again.
After resting through most of last Sunday and going to bed early, I felt pretty good on Monday morning. Told my team as much, indicated that I wasn’t at 100% and that I’d be in and out during the day, but that I’d be working. And, for the majority of the day, I did.
Then came late afternoon.
At around 4:00 or so, my chest once again tightened up, my neck started to hurt…and back to bed I went. I sat in bed and tried to decide whether I was having a heart attack or dealing with the virus. I looked up symptoms of both (they’re basically the same). I did my best to fall asleep, with very poor results. I worried myself basically to death and felt completely helpless.
When you don’t know what’s happening, but you do know that if you go to a hospital these days you’re probably either going to get sent home or get sent to ICU – and in either case, you’re going to be on the hook for a few thousand dollars – you feel helpless.
So, eventually, I just lay there. Pretty much all night. I got up at some point to pee and had major chills – which actually came as somewhat of a relief, because that let me lean more towards COVID and less towards “heart giving out.” I still didn’t have a thermometer, but having the chills helped; because (after peeing) I could just curl up in a fetal position under the covers and wait them out. My chest was still tight when I took deep breaths and my neck still hurt when I coughed, but those two things were no longer keeping me awake – which was a huge relief.
I only managed to get about two hours of decent sleep on Monday night, though. I told my team on Tuesday that I would not be working. I had Jenny bring a thermometer and some expectorant to the house (she left them in the garage), and I spent most of the day in bed. Unfortunately, the thermometer consistently showed that I had no fever (was, in fact, a degree LOW) and the expectorant did very little. So, as I lay in bed all day, I tended to magnify every little ache or twinge and wonder if I was about to die.
Felt better on Wednesday morning after getting a pretty decent night’s sleep, but again told my team that I’d be taking the day off to continue to rest. Which I did. Drank a lot of hot tea, took my temp regularly (never high) and my BP (fairly normal for me) and my heart rate (normal), and dozed all day. I felt a lot better after late afternoon came and went with no chest tightness, so I took a shower and went back to bed. Slept okay.
Thursday, I worked normally, though by then I was stressed beyond all recognition because I still didn’t know what the issue actually was. Every time I felt a twinge in my neck, I’d think, “My carotid artery is about to explode.” Every time I’d feel a tingle in my arm or neck or chest or leg (and guys, I’m getting up there – twinge happen!) , it felt like an indication that something was terribly wrong. And every time I got stressed, my heart rate went up, which stressed me more and…you get the idea. Not a happy camper at all.
So on Friday, I made the call and made an appointment with a vascular surgeon. I’ll go in a week from next Monday to find out exactly what type of blockage I’ve got in my carotids, what my heart is doing, etc. At that point, I’ll have to make a decision (maybe) on surgery. But at THIS point, I can at least tell myself that I’m taking steps to do something. I’m doing something, even if it’s just asking someone else to do something. And I’m can hopefully stop stressing myself out.
Not a fun post, this, but it’s getting the facts out there.
In NORMAL news, I did a lot of yard work today, particularly when it came to cutting down trees (well…SMALL trees – diameter of under 3 inches) by my fence at the back side of the house. Cleared out a lot of them, and discovered that I’ve got a fairly large tree on the right side of the house which is leaning towards the house and is going to have to go.
So I guess I’ll be looking for some tree removal people. Can’t do that one myself.
More yard work planned for tomorrow (need to mow the back lawn and I still want to trim SOME of the branches that are scraping the house), but for now it’s bedtime. I put in a lot of work today and I’m looking forward to sleeping like a log tonight.