Taking Inventory

I think that any month that includes such phrases as "whooping cough," "overnight hospital stay for observation," "CAT scan," "head gash" and "unconsciousness" deserves a bit of quiet reflection once all the dust and blood have settled. So as we turn a page into November, and because so many of you have asked (thank you), let me give you an accounting of my current condition.

The vicious, body-shaking cough that led to all this foolishness is all but gone. And after a full week of uncontrollable hacking, I can't begin to tell you how welcome the sounds of silence are. The combination of cough medicine with codeine, a prescription cough drug called benzonatate and antibiotics, along with much rest and the natural passage of time, seemed to do the trick. (Antibiotics came into play because doctors at St. Mary's Hospital in Decatur elected to treat my illness as if it was whooping cough even though it probably wasn't, because the symptoms were so similar.)

The lump over my right eye, the result of my passing out in the bathroom at 5 a.m. last Wednesday and banging my head against the sink (I guess, since I was momentarily unconscious; someone could have snuck in the toilet and beat me upside the head with a socket wrench for all I know), has reduced to a swollen ridge behind the gash where I hit the sink, sort of like an eyebrow in 3-D. The cut was fastened at the hospital with super glue instead of stitches; the glue is starting to wear away now and there's an overwhelming urge to rip it away and see how well the wound has healed, but if I do I know there's a good chance my little blood geyser may erupt again.

         Me in St. Mary's Hospital, Decatur, IL, 10-28-09

My eyeball itself is still extremely red and bloodshot, very sensitive to light, and my right eyelid is swollen. I am astonished at how much resulting damage occurred after an injury above my eye. I shudder to think what would have happened if the blow had struck my eye directly.

I really haven't had much time to think about my kidneys the last couple of weeks, which in some ways may be a good thing, although I continued to take all my medications every day as well as the anti-cough prescriptions.

I still get very brief flashes of the body surges I felt just prior to my blackout spells (which I think may have been caused by a negative drug interaction on top of the coughing attacks), so I'm trying very hard to keep all my body functions under control. It's like I'm running system checks every few minutes. "Head OK? Lungs all right? Eyes? How you doin?'"

And before I forget, the arrival of November means that the HOUR Detroit magazine article I wrote in October regarding my kidney adventures is now available online in its complete version. So if you didn't have the opportunity to read the last half of the piece or were too frugal to buy a newsstand copy of the magazine, you can read the entire story at  HOUR Detroit_Best Foot Forward.