March Madness 2010

If you don't have your health, you don't have anything. So true.

March started out good. I went on a tour of the Utah Opera House costume shop, out to eat with some co-workers, getting excited about my surgery and how good I would feel after etc. etc.

Then BAM on Friday, March 5th (the 9 year anniversary of my employment at my job) I got a sore throat. I sprayed Chloraseptic, drank hot lemonade, hot water with honey, everything. My parents even came down to see me because they couldn't believe that I would be sick! Miss wash your hands, blah, blah, blah. On Saturday I felt like I was getting better. This was no time to get sick. It is the last week of the legislative session and my surgery is on the 15th.

Then on Sunday, BAM, BAM I couldn't breathe through my nose and I felt like I had been hit by a truck. A big one. Julie came home from church to see if I was dead in my bed. I slept 16 hours that day. I had a stuffy nose, headache from blowing my nose, achy body, coughing and sore throat. Monday, more of the same. I tried to be socially responsible and not go to work. My parent's came again because they just couldn't believe I was STILL sick. Tuesday, something had to be wrong. I called my doctor and told her that I HAD to come in to check for strep. I didn't have a sore throat anymore, but I didn't know what else to do. I went to the doctor at 5 pm and the doctor checked me out. She listened to my heart and lungs for a long time. Then finally, she says, I think you may have RSV. Adults can get it. She said she wasn't sure, but it could also be pneumonia. I gasped. I couldn't have pneumonia, I was having heart surgery in 7 days. You can't have a cough and have heart surgery. Something about not being able to stay steady while the patient is awake and coughing. Doesn't work. Luckily I didn't have a fever. My doctor gave me some antibiotics just in case and then sent me up the street to the hospital to have chest x-rays just to make sure.


My prayers were answered, the next day the radiologist called and said that I did not have pneumonia. Happy day. Now I just had to quit coughing. To make this long story longer, I did go to work on Thursday night for the festivities and pretended like I was "all better." I practiced all weekend suppressing coughs. I was terrified that I would be told that I couldn't have surgery on Monday morning. All of the prayers from my family and friends worked and I got to have the surgery on March 15.