ahhhh. so I have had this cough, which after I went to Montana and after my Minnesota national art therapy conference, got really bad. like OMG im throwing up a throat bad ( not lung, my throat) which really started to creep me out. I took the first available doctor I could get, she listened to my lungs, checked my nose and ears, and on my request took a lung xray ( side and back view). besides the cough I felt ok, and the cough itself wasn't all flemy like im used to, over all dry. the doctor stated that the xray was clear and she was 99 % sure it was acid reflux ( which made sense with my history, have had scope tests done for an irritated stomach and during chemo I obviously had a lot of vomiting which affected my throat not so good). she prescribed antibiotics just in case it was bronchitis because I did have a bought of that during school out east ( and apparently once you start getting it your susceptible ).
the antibiotics helped a bit, cough wasn't so bad but still consistently throughout the day and worse after meals. after that ended I started on my infamous ant acid pills, which over the course of the week did not seem to make a difference so I got back into the doctor this week ( my own doc / physicians assistant because the initial one was on vacation ) my lady asked me what I was told. I repeated the above and she went into the xray notes / radiologist and said no, you were diagnosed with pneumonia! she ordered a new set of xrays, listened and so on so forth. sure enough she showed me the before and after xrays and I had a hazy spot on the upper right lung. get this , there was even a bright red oval around the hazy spot on the initial xray stating there was something there! ( was told it was clear) the new xray was less hazy, much smaller area, but I was obviously still having issues. was given new antibiotics, a new ant acid pill and prednisone to help with the coughing because all the normal over the counter stuff did not help.
I was warned the prednisone would make me shaky and all energetic wooooo! and that the antibiotics should help. I did not agree that it would but I was willing to try anything at this point. ( work with very anxious young ladies who do not like seeing sick staff around every day) . OMG by that afternoon yes I noticed I had the shakes, but I have never had more energy!!!!!!! I didn't yawn once!!!!!! I also noticed I didn't cough more then maybe 5 times all afternoon. I felt almost human. granted my memory was like sucking so horribly it reminded me of chemo brain but thankfully my coworkers did not give up on me and were helpful with that part even though I asked one like 15 times about medication questions and she had to keep repeating she wasn't med certified and so on so forth. and then I completely blanked out as to where one resident was for 3 hours until same staff helped prompted my memory and it came back to me. luckily today im a swing shift so I don't have to be in control of the medication keys, just kinda have to hang out and help keep things going smooth. ( residential unit for mood disorder).
but don't u just love when one doctor tells you one thing, completely disregarding the big red oval marking the hazy area? yay for paying for double the xrays.
