Working with a Chronic Cough and Bedtime
It's been over a month since I've blogged y'all, and I'm feeling the itch to write. Life has been a little crazy, but I firmly believe one makes time for what's important. I haven't made time to write, and it makes my heart sad. So I'm back!
Crazy month has been punctuated by a few things. One is a cough I've had for 12 weeks. Yes twelve freaking weeks. I had a terrible cold at the end of April when I met my BFF in Denver. A few weeks after I got back I went to urgent care where it was pronounced a post-viral cough. I was given five days of steroids and cough suppressant. Two weeks later it wasn't gone, so I went back to the same urgent care. This time they did a chest x-ray and diagnosed me with bronchitis. Prescription: more steroids, antibiotics, inhaler. A week later my husband and I went to a conference. We got back late on Friday and I was coughing incessantly. I went to a different, 24-hour urgent care around 10 pm on Friday and was told it was a sinus infection. More antibiotics. Nevertheless the cough persisted, so I finally took time to see my family doctor. She said she would order a CT scan of my chest. She gave me a vaccination for whooping cough and tested my sputum (I spit in a cup...a first for me), but she didn't prescribe anything else. That was on a Thursday, and the following Tuesday the CT hadn't been scheduled, and I was still coughing. I went to a different urgent care that's staffed by ER doctors (not sure why I didn't go there to begin with.) They did the chest CT there, and it was clear, but the doctor was afraid I had whooping cough. I got a steroid injection, breathing treatment, more steroids and antibiotics. Thankfully whooping cough was negative. My GI doctor tested me for tuberculosis. Negative. My sputum had bacteria in it, so I did another round of antibiotics. (Ever been asked to cough into a cup? My life is glamorous.) But here I am 12 weeks later with no cough relief, tons of antibiotics and steroids and I'm mostly annoyed. And tired. I haven't been running a ton because running makes me cough. Funny how that works.
The other crazy thing is a toddler who doesn't want to go to sleep. Feel me, moms? We've been really lucky that Will has always gone to sleep easily. He's an early riser, but he's always gone to sleep well. Some of that may be because he's still been drinking bottles at bedtime despite our best attempts to break him of it. A few weeks ago he asked for a big boy bed that looks like a fire truck. We told him he could get one if he gave up bottles. And he did...cold turkey. (The will on this kid). The problem was that he was no longer pacifying himself with bottles nor was his stomach full. So bedtime went from a pretty consistent 8 pm to 9:30 or 10 if we're lucky. I'm a firm believer that bed time is very important. Also I'm tired so go to sleep, kid.
So cough plus lack of sleep equals a dazed and less than 100 percent me. I did manage to push my way through a 5k last weekend in the worst time in a decade (30:39) in horrible heat and humidity. I somehow won my age group, and despite the terrible time felt great to be back on the trail. I did feel badly for the runners around me at the crowded beginning of the race as I coughed my face off.
Even if it's slow and infrequent running and blogging will help me get back to myself. Now for losing the cough and getting my kid to sleep. Baby steps.
Crazy month has been punctuated by a few things. One is a cough I've had for 12 weeks. Yes twelve freaking weeks. I had a terrible cold at the end of April when I met my BFF in Denver. A few weeks after I got back I went to urgent care where it was pronounced a post-viral cough. I was given five days of steroids and cough suppressant. Two weeks later it wasn't gone, so I went back to the same urgent care. This time they did a chest x-ray and diagnosed me with bronchitis. Prescription: more steroids, antibiotics, inhaler. A week later my husband and I went to a conference. We got back late on Friday and I was coughing incessantly. I went to a different, 24-hour urgent care around 10 pm on Friday and was told it was a sinus infection. More antibiotics. Nevertheless the cough persisted, so I finally took time to see my family doctor. She said she would order a CT scan of my chest. She gave me a vaccination for whooping cough and tested my sputum (I spit in a cup...a first for me), but she didn't prescribe anything else. That was on a Thursday, and the following Tuesday the CT hadn't been scheduled, and I was still coughing. I went to a different urgent care that's staffed by ER doctors (not sure why I didn't go there to begin with.) They did the chest CT there, and it was clear, but the doctor was afraid I had whooping cough. I got a steroid injection, breathing treatment, more steroids and antibiotics. Thankfully whooping cough was negative. My GI doctor tested me for tuberculosis. Negative. My sputum had bacteria in it, so I did another round of antibiotics. (Ever been asked to cough into a cup? My life is glamorous.) But here I am 12 weeks later with no cough relief, tons of antibiotics and steroids and I'm mostly annoyed. And tired. I haven't been running a ton because running makes me cough. Funny how that works.
The other crazy thing is a toddler who doesn't want to go to sleep. Feel me, moms? We've been really lucky that Will has always gone to sleep easily. He's an early riser, but he's always gone to sleep well. Some of that may be because he's still been drinking bottles at bedtime despite our best attempts to break him of it. A few weeks ago he asked for a big boy bed that looks like a fire truck. We told him he could get one if he gave up bottles. And he did...cold turkey. (The will on this kid). The problem was that he was no longer pacifying himself with bottles nor was his stomach full. So bedtime went from a pretty consistent 8 pm to 9:30 or 10 if we're lucky. I'm a firm believer that bed time is very important. Also I'm tired so go to sleep, kid.
So cough plus lack of sleep equals a dazed and less than 100 percent me. I did manage to push my way through a 5k last weekend in the worst time in a decade (30:39) in horrible heat and humidity. I somehow won my age group, and despite the terrible time felt great to be back on the trail. I did feel badly for the runners around me at the crowded beginning of the race as I coughed my face off.
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| So. Warm. |
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