Pneumonia links and Vet visit

Hardly any coughing today, but the tiredness just won't let up. I did a little research today on the symptoms of pneumonia, and how treatment at home looks. I've done everything my doctor has asked me to do, and I noticed an improvement in my breathing rate.

I only get short of breath if I do several tasks one after the other without taking a break.

According to what I read, I have what is called community based pneumonia, meaning I caught it from within my work place. My case is mild, so it is referred to as walking pneumonia. Since I am otherwise healthy (no asthma, no flu, I don't smoke, I'm not diabetic, and no other conditions or illnesses), I'm going to recover within two weeks, although the tiredness could last up to a month for some people. I hope my otherwise healthy status will shorten the duration!

I feel better just knowing that the tiredness is associated with the illness. I was beginning to think that all this inactivity had made me feel lazy. What with all I have to do... or would like to do... this is not a pleasant place to be.

Today I took down the tree, and it's laying in all its pieces on the floor. Steve brought the box down from the attic this evening. Tomorrow, I'll load the tree parts into the box, and he'll carry it upstairs.

I did manage to put a few things away into storage containers... too big and heavy for me to carry upstairs. Steve will take care of that for me too. When he has off.

I prepared the bedroom for my sister and her husband who will be visiting from out of town this weekend. Their children are grown, and have children of their own. Now it's time for she and I to get in some quality sister time, to get to know each other all over again, something we've been unable to do for the past 20-30 years due to long distances and raising kids. She used to live in California, then in Connecticut, but now lives much closer, in Georgia.

They may be here either Saturday or Sunday. Just in time for a New Year's celebration around my neighbor's bonfire. The weather looks promising for that evening.

Both dogs had an appointment with the vet today to check out suspicious lumps. I'm not talking about Schnauzer bumps... my dogs haven't had any of those yet. The vet says I've been lucky not to have seen any of these annoying bumps on my dogs. She said it's unusual when a schnauzer owner doesn't come across one or more of these down their dogs' backs.

Misty had a suspicious lump removed last summer.... it was melanoma, and they got it all. She also had a hemangioma removed... it was filled with blood, and was benign, but a nuisance just the same. The lump I had checked out today started growing on top of her head just after the last lump was removed. The good news is that it was only a cyst, and the doctor drained it right there in the office. Gone, just like that!

Max had a lump on his rear right leg, sort of in the area I'd call the ankle of my own leg. The good doctor attempted to aspirate it, but nothing would come out of it. It wasn't a cyst. So she tried to draw out some blood cells to see if anything abnormal was in it, but got so very little, it was hard to say. She said that I should watch it and if it grows any bigger, bring him in and get it removed. The problem is in watching it... it's in a place covered by hair, and would be easy to not notice anything about it at all.

What I do know is that it has been growing steadily for the past year. She said if it got too big, there would be very little room to cut out enough margin around it to make sure they get it all. We decided to go ahead and have it removed asap while it is still small enough to get it all with room left to close it properly. It's just less than a 1/4" in diameter. I set up an appointment for January 9th to have it removed.

I know it sounds like I've been doing a lot, but I haven't done much. I've paced all these things throughout the day. The vet visit took over two hours due to some pet emergency that backed them up. So, there was a lot of sitting around waiting there. Nearly fell asleep. Poor dogs!

Tomorrow I'll try to get in some lesson plans while I'm waiting for my sister.

Now I shall go to bed. Goodnight J-land! Thank you for being so kind during these past few days of my complaining. You are too good to me!

                                                        

 

 

 

Tags: Pneumonia