Whine and Cheese

So today was my second colonoscopy. Since both of my older brothers passed away from cancer that appeared to originate from the colon, my sibs and I have been getting examined early. My first was just before my 40th birthday and my doctor put me on the 5-year cycle. Today's exam was my second. Luckily both exams have found no polyps or issues.

The prep this round was easier, but the timing of it was worse than last time. My appointment was insanely early at 6:15 AM, which means I had to take my second dose of the preparation solution at 2 AM, keeping me up almost all night. Instead of the gallon jug of nastiness from last time, I got the split dose of the solution and just had to keep drinking water.

The exam itself was a breeze, as they sedated me. I honestly don't recall them even injecting the sedative. I was so tired, I think I may have fell asleep on the exam table before they administered it. I just remember waking up in the recovery room with my buddy Brian sitting next to me.

Afterward, we grabbed a very quick breakfast at McDonald's, then back to my house where I napped for several hours, followed by a late lunch and cheesecake at TGIFridays.

And at least I'm good for another five years.

I went to bed Friday with a slight, nagging cough. A dose of Nyquil would guarantee me a good night, or so I believed.

It was one of the worst night's sleep I've ever had. The cough kept me up all night. My muscles were aching and I thought I felt chills. By the time I got up, it was 8 AM and my head was throbbing. So after some ibuprofen and a couple of hours of goofing off in a mental fog, I tried to crash for a few more hours, waking up around 4 PM. I literally slept the day away... and not a good sleep either.

Thinking it was a one-off, I downed another dose of Nyquil Saturday night, only to repeat the experience. In my waking hours, the coughing was just intermittent and annoying, but when I lay down, it just magnifies and becomes almost continuous.

So on Sunday, I took some allergy medication, hoping it wasn't a cold, but a reaction to the blooming crap in the Spring air. It didn't help. In fact, it made it worse. My nose was dripping all night along with everything else. I seriously couldn't win. I woke up at 3 AM to go to the restroom and get some ibuprofen to the recurring headache. I called in to work so I could get some more sleep and then go to the urgent care.

The doctor didn't think I had a cold as a lot of symptoms were missing, so she gave me a script for prednisone for a possible allergy and some of the cough syrup with codeine to help me get some sleep. I am hoping it works because i really need some rest tonight.

I am meeting my new boss tomorrow and I could do without the raspy voice and lack of energy.

While I've been sick, I've not done much other than flop on the couch and watch TV. I've been in recovery mode. I think I'm about 90% better, so I'm going to attempt going to work tomorrow. My co-workers will just have to get used to my raspy, frog voice for a while.


Stanley Tucci, Sofie Gråbøl, and Richard Dormer of "Fortitude"

The first disc of "Fortitude" showed up from Netflix on Monday. I popped it in the DVD player and settled back. This British series involves a murder in a small fictional Arctic Norwegian settlement called "Fortitude." One murder leads to another death along with other discoveries and indiscretions among the townspeople. US audiences will recognize stars Stanley Tucci, Michael Gambon, Christopher Eccelston, and (possibly) Sofie Gråbøl, the last being the lead in the award-winning Danish series "The Killing."

When I got through the first three episode on the first disc, I was disappointed. Netflix is good, but I knew it was going to be two days before I could watch more. While I was looking at Amazon.com to see season one was available on DVD, I found the season was available through Amazon Prime for free. And there was much rejoicing (yayyyyyyyy!!!)

So Tuesday and today, I binge-watched the rest of the season. I thought it was remarkably well-written, with various storylines interwoven together. I also enjoyed how the series led me to question the morality of a character, believing his or her actions to have been shady, only to reveal later that other circumstances were involved that exonerated him or her in my mind. It's a good mix of police drama, murder and mystery, and even a touch of horror. There was also quite a few bearded bears (series lead Richard Dormer is a handsome blond bear of a guy) as well as a bit of delightful male nudity (though sadly none with Mr. Tucci).

I am learning to appreciate the short seasons that British TV usual goes. Twelve episodes are actually quite a large season for the UK. According to Wikipedia, there is a second season being made. I'm looking forward to it already.

Ye gods, what a night...

Last night, a small group of us went out to the movies to see "The Boy". The theater was full of teenagers, but they were strangely well-behaved. Despite some decent acting and a cool setting, the movie was rather dull. The guys thought so too, as we tore it apart while having dinner.

On my way home from the outing, I stopped and bought some Nyquil as I coughed intermittently all evening. Before bed, I started coughing so hard that I threw up a couple of times. I blamed it mainly on eating too much for dinner and went to bed after things settled down.

Then the night went south fast.

I have had chills before but not like last night. From midnight to 3 AM, I shook so violently, I couldn't sleep. The whole bed was shaking like crazy. At some point, I had to get up to go to the bathroom, and the chills were so bad, I could barely walk to the bathroom and back. At 3 AM they finally stopped. It freaked me out so much, that I worried that I needed to go to the ER. Seriously, they were that bad. The last time I had a night even remotely close to this was an evening where food poisoning was involved, so I worried that had happened again.

It took an hour for me to build up the strength to get out of bed. I tried so desperately to get the chills to stop that my muscles were incredibly sore and I was exhausted. I finally got dressed and drove over the ER, which is only a couple of miles away from my house.

The ER was thankfully not busy. The intake clerk was an @$$hole. I told him that I thought I might have food poisoning. I told him it started with the sneezing and coughing and he cut me off with a tone of disbelief.

"That doesn't sound like food poisoning," he snarked, giving me a look like he didn't believe I was sick.

"Well, hang on a second, and I'll tell you WHY I'm worried it is," I retorted.

After he checked me in, a nurse took me back to a room where I was found to have a 103 degrees F fever (take THAT check-in clerk!) The doctor saw me and she wanted a chest x-ray to make sure I didn't have pneumonia. Luckily, my lungs are clear, so she concluded that I have a flu. She told me the usual -- rest, liquids, etc. She checked my temperature again, it had dropped down to 99 degrees F. They finally discharged me around 6 AM and I drove home.

I crashed for five more hours, this time sleeping better than before. I'm still coughing, but all the other symptoms seems to have passed.

I'm beat. :(

I woke up around 2 AM Thursday morning with my right foot throbbing. I had drank a pumpkin ale at the bar the night before, which I suspect triggered a gout event. I don't tend to drink much, so sometimes an occasional beer seems to cause this, as far as I can tell. So in the middle of the night, I trudged downstairs to take a colchicine tablet, a prescribed anti-gout medication. Per the doctor's directions, I am to "take one every two hours, as needed, for pain." I was up again at 5 AM and took another and again at 8 AM.

When I finally got moving around yesterday morning, my foot was still aching with each step, so I continued to take the pills throughout the day. Eventually, the pain went away.

Now the nasty side-effect of these pills is that they can cause severe diarrhea.

I was aware of this, but last night was sheer misery. Apparently, the number of pills I took to clear things up were a bit excessive. Every hour I was up again and in the bathroom. And a new twist was added -- vomiting.

While I was up and between bodily expulsions, I looked up the current labeling for this drug online. It seems that the recommended dosage is 2 pills the first hour, with one pill the following hour, FOR THE DAY! Due to toxicity issues, the dosage had been changed to this in 2009 and the efficacy pretty much remained the same with the pain subsiding eventually. I had taken ten over the course of the previous day. I'd overdosed myself, based on the doctor's direction. The vomiting was a symptom of excessive dosing.

I'm in no danger, as the total dose I took was still below what had been known for severe toxicity issues, but I'm irritated that the doctor's direction set me up for this. I'm hoping the rest of the side-effects pass today.

Ugh. I hate being sick. Silly, as I can't imagine that anyone enjoys it, except for hypochondriacs. Luckily, with my itchy eyes, coughing, general lethargy, chills, and diarrhea, I know mine is legit. I've slept a lot this weekend.

This one crept on me. It started with a periodic sneeze earlier this week. It's Springtime, so I blamed it on the blooming trees and such. Then it became a cough. Again, it wasn't constant, so I blamed the Springtime flood of plant crap in the air. By Friday, a headache settled in. Several folks at work had headaches and we blamed it on weather front changes. By lunchtime, I finally caved to the idea that I'm sick and went home. I slept three hours, was awake for three, then back to bed again.

Thank heavens for The Golden Girls marathons on Logo, TVLand, and another cable station. It's kept me entertained through my few waking hours.

I'm hoping this all blows over by Monday. I have a busy week ahead of me.

After a long, LONG day at work, I got home in time for my nose to clog up and various bouts of sneezing to occur. It's official, I've got it. I got some hot and sour soup from PF Chang's on the way home, which seemed to help for a bit.

Various observations of the day:

• People talking on Bluetooth. In the old days, when you'd see people talking to themselves, you assumed they were crazy. Now you assume they have Bluetooth microphones. I guess they could be both.
  
• The waiters at PF Chang's wear all black. When I see a skinny guy in all black with glasses, like the one who served me at the carryout counter, I think of Mike Myers' Dieter from SNL. "Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance."
  
• While at lunch, I recalled the snarkiest thing I think I've ever said... "With a good personality, she just might make a good fag hag for some hot gay man." I'll have to recount the context some other time.
  
• People who offer to make me soup are going to Heaven. Thanks ericdabear... *big hugs*
  
• Work tomorrow.. have to go... ugh...

... NyQuil is good....