Weakly wrap up

I’ve had a dozen major surgeries in my life.  I’ve got scars crisscrossing my body; Shoulder, chest, ribs, stomach/abdomen, hip/leg, foot, leg, heart (via ablation both groin and armpit), groin again for a veracel repair, and the list also includes a shunt implant and removal and colostomy plus reversal and then hernia repair as well.  Some of these are multiple site surgeries (abdomen and hip) and you can go up and down my body and easily find 30-35 scars or incision sites.

Odd way to start a blog, I’ll admit, but this week has done a lot to remind me of all these surgeries and scars.

Last week, we dealt with Kiddo and a case of bronchitis.  All seemed like this week would be better and we would go into February with a clean bill of health and looking forward to the new month and all we have to do.  Sadly, Monday night, Kiddo came out of her room around 22:00h (10pm) and complained she wasn’t feeling well.  

I was gaming, so I paused that and popped up and attended to Kiddo.  Are you hot?  Feverish?  Cold?  Sore?  Achy?  What’s wrong?  She said she just felt yucky and then made a gurgling, choking type sound.  

Well, with that, I hurried her to the bathroom.  She kind of lurched and then burped and then looked at me and said she was feeling better.

OK.  Cool.  Why don’t you chill out here for a few minutes and watch Dada do his video games.  She did and about ten minutes later, she’s up and headed to the toilet again.  I pause again and follow.  This time, we get results, unfortunately.  We cleaned her up and rinsed her mouth and she was “exhausted” so I got her back to bed and went to finish my level and go to bed.

She was sick and throwing up from 22:15ish until about 01:15.  About every 20-45 minutes, she’d come out and feel sick.  So, I’d pop out of bed and attend to her.  From 01:13 until 04:52, she was asleep and I got some sleep, but she woke and had one final yuck before it all settled.

Needless to say, she was home Tuesday.  I thought we’d spend the day in the clinic, but her stomach calmed and she spent the day resting.  Two naps type of resting.  This is from a girl that wouldn’t nap if you promised her all the cotton candy in the world.  So, she was feeling it and letting her body rest and recoup.  

On top of that, Tuesday morning J woke with a nasty cough and congestion.  She took herself to the clinic and get diagnosed with bronchitis and got antibiotics for it.  She started that ASAP and Wednesday morning, woke feeling much better.  Not 100%, but close enough to get to work and get through the day without it completely draining her.

The bad news is, I woke Wednesday not feeling great.  By the time I got Kiddo to school and then back home, I was sweating bullets and could barely walk.  My energy was gone and I felt terrible.  Also, by the time I got home, my stomach wasn’t happy.  

I spent Wednesday in bed.  Unless I was in the bathroom, I was laying in bed.  

I never had a fever.  I never got above 37.5.  But I was hot.  I was cold.  I was writhing in pain and discomfort.

However, and here’s the fun part, the real pain and aches came from my surgical sites.  All the scars seemed to pulse in time with my pulse to just light up in pain and electric heat that would course up and down or left and right from those scars as my body fought whatever it was that was ravaging inside of it.  If I had to guess, it would be the flu.  Thankfully, J and I got the Flu Vax.  Kiddo couldn’t get a dose when J and I got ours.  Pediatric doses would be available (get ready for it) in February.  Missed it by two days, Kiddo. 

I think I’m back at it today and not still writhing in agony because of the flu shot. I think that definitely helped lessen the symptoms and duration.  As a PSA and aside, vaccines can help stop a disease from attacking and affecting the body, but when that doesn’t work, they can help lessen the intensity and duration, plus they can help stop the spread.  The CDC, in a 2017 report that was followed up in 2022 shows that people who receive the flu shot and still get the flu (approx 20% of  those who rcvd the flu shot got some variant of the flu) but they “shed” the disease (based on samples taken from breath vapor, sweat, spittle, nasal secretions, etc) at a rate that was 60% less than those who never rcvd the shot.  So, not only do vaccines help prevent disease, it lessens the chance I can give the illness to others by more than half.  They help.  ALWAYS get your shots.  Flu, seasonally.  Pneumonia, if you qualify.  Covid.  Etc.  Call it a favor for Kiddo.

The other bad part of the aches and pains was my knee and wrist.  My right wrist has a tear or partial tear in the Extensor carpi ulnas tendon.  I’ve been wearing a brace for that for about a decade now.  I saw a doc in CA about this and was told (to paraphrase) that since my name isn’t Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, no insurance in the world would pay for surgery, since it’s considered non-imperative.  So, a $20 brace from Amazon would fix it.  It does wonders.  Sadly, I can’t get that brace here or in China, so I should stock up on two or three this summer.  As for the knee, that’s the basketball injury that I blogged about a year ago (give or take) and was considered non-surgical as it was a strain with minor tear and not a full tear of the meniscus.  Still aches like a SOB sometimes, especially while having the flu.

So, it’s been a week of almost no sleep or of 20 hours a day of sleep.

However, with everyone on the mend, it looks like we are on the back end of things.  Fingers crossed this time.  We will take it easy again tonight and so far today, I’ve not done much.  Rested.  Hydrated.  Ate little bits here and there.  My appetite is back to about 75%, so mirroring Kiddo and her rebound.  I’m guessing by tomorrow I’ll be back to 95% and rising.  

I started the blog with a Kiddo pic.  She is the coolest.  Just look at that pic and these.  Also, her toothbrush got a necklace today and last night in the shower, she tucked in her body wash.  She might be the coolest kid in Bangkok, but she certainly excels at being six above all else.

Let’s go, Kiddo… It’s Friday night and the weekend is here.  Time to have some fun, feel better, and have a week where we go to school all five days.  Something you haven’t done since school has been back from Xmas.  Valinetime’s day is coming and then February break.  Next thing you know, it’s gonna be March.  Then April (Yippy).  It’s gonna be time to move out in a blink and we still have a million things to do.  You can be our leader and queen of love and funnesses.