Wheezy, Whistly, Squeaky, Craggy, and Crusty

Being sickly is not for the faint of heart. If you were unlucky enough to be sent into our household right now, the sounds you would hear would vary from that of a seal barking to noise of someone trying to start a very damaged chain saw to wheezes, squeaks, and whistly, craggy, crusty sounding breathing. 

Are we better?

Yes - some.

We are no longer coughing incessantly without a break. We are not moaning and groaning.

Instead we are puffing and blowing and making all manner of noises trying to breathe with an occasional coughing jag thrown in for good measure.

We went to the doctor a couple of days ago and were prescribed medications that will, hopefully, help us out.

Mike got an inhaler, a capsule, and some cough syrup. I got a cough syrup and a couple of antibiotics. We were told to get us a couple of those gizmos that the hospital hands out when somebody is recovering from surgery that has a ball in a chamber where you inhale deeply to push it to the top of the chamber. We have been puffing and inhaling into those on a regular basis and don't let surgery patients fool you into thinking it is easy to push that little ball to the top of the chamber. It is not. It takes a lot of force and powerful lungs. Mike is better at it than I am but it can be said that we sort of suck at sucking.

Spirometer

When we described our symptoms to the Physician's Assistant a couple of days ago, she sent us to get X-Rays to check for pneumonia. She said Mike's breathing sounded, "rattly," when she listened to us with her stethoscope. 

The X-Rays showed that we both had Atelectasis = small areas of lung collapse due to intense pressure on the air sacs from severe, sustained coughing. She thought I was in, "pre-pneumonia," and prescribed the anti-biotics. She also said the spirometer (that little gizmo with the ball in the chamber that we suck) use should help us to re-expand those areas in our lungs. She also suggested taking steamy showers, using a humidifier, and lots of rest.

So, here we are. Fifteen days into the new year and still sickly. Things may be looking up, though, because we do have periods where we are not coughing. Fingers are crossed - and so are my legs. Because coughing not only applies intense pressure to my lungs...

Old age ain't for sissies!