A common cold

My husband and I have both picked up a case of your run of the mill common cold. But with him recently diagnosed with emphysema and my having metastatic breast cancer, is the common cold now still a common cold? I think in hubbys case, it could easily kill him - if it was to travel to his chest, causing pneumonia. His specialist we saw has told us, you don't die from emphysema but die from conditions relating to it. I.e. Pneumonia on the chest, weakness of the heart to name a few. Lightbulb moment, that will be why he had a cardiac ultrasound recently - no results as yet - does that mean no news is good news? Or is it the state of our health system and we have to wait a while for an appointment to receive results? Luckily hubby had an injection not long after his diagnosis (cost us an arm and half a leg) being a preventative against pneumonia, so hopefully that has lessened the effects of this cold. I have been watching him like a hawk as he was much worse than me but looks like he is on the mend while I feel like I am going slightly backwards.

My question to myself and if any of you can answer it, then please do - because of this stupid cancer in my bones, will it affect things as simple as the common cold? Or am I imagining things and being a bit of a drama queen? Or could this have been a particularly nasty strain of cold and because I had the flu shot back in April (provided free of charge by our health system - thank you), it has lessened the effects? My head pounds constantly, I am coughing up phlegm (ugh) regularly, I am hot and cold and I just feel 'not quite right'.

My return date to work was Wednesday 27th September after being on annual leave but ended up staying home that day as both hubby and I had a crap night, coughing simultaneously, headaches, sore throat, feeling nauseous, hot then cold and so on...I had a great sleep Wednesday night and felt reasonably human Thursday morning so decided I would be ok to go to work. I mean who stays home from work just with a cold? This is something I have always struggled with - should I go, should I stay? A cold really? But then should I go to work and pass my bugs around especially with having air-conditioning? I don't really know, but despite whatever I have felt crook with, I have always felt guilty staying home when I am sick...how daft is that? Even when the girls were little and had to stay home from school, I used to feel guilty. I was sweating profusely getting ready for work, having to change tops as first one felt too heavy. I mean even though we are in spring, it is the crappy cold, wet spring weather we are experiencing...but anyhow, I get to work...and I am struggling thinking I have made the wrong decision but knowing if I had stayed home this day as well, I would have been so, so riddled with guilt. I take my pain killers every four (or so) hours to stop the headaches coming back but my body is aching and I am flutuating between being hot and cold. The afternoon is much better and I am thinking "yeah, I am ok, I am getting my work mojo back", so glad I am back for a short week before having to kick into a full 40 hours. Come home, cook dinner, potter around, get my work clothes out for the next day - looking forward to going to work because it will be Friday and the weekend already! Go to sleep Thursday night and then bang! Wake up about 3.00am, head is pounding...try to ignore it cos I am cold and don't want to drag my ass out of bed to take painkillers...then having to shove the blankets off cos I am roasting...at 4.00am-ish I finally drag myself out to take tablets, but my body is aching and I just feel crappy, can't put my finger on it but know I don't feel right but eventually go back to sleep. Alarm goes off at 5.30am and in my head I am screaming "noooooooooooooo"

I make the decision to not go back to work today, but I don't like it. But I also feel quite strongly that I would struggle sitting up for 8 hours trying to get work done. My attendance has been a bit erratic (for me) over the last six or so weeks and I feel very uncomfortable. But again I need to remind myself to be kind to myself. A common cold is not just a common cold for me anymore...or is it? This was my original question...either way, life has changed for me, in many ways - my health is very precarious but the worry is always there that work will think I am more of a nuisance. To date, they have been so wonderful and I don't ever want to take that for granted. So I think if I can stay home today and the weekend, tucked up warm, drinking lots of fluids, then Monday morning I can put my big girls pants on and get back into the flow of things. It has been a hectic few months and I have learnt from it - a much needed reminder that while I am well, I do have a life changing condition and need to manage myself in such a way that I don't exhaust myself anymore than necessary. I need to be able to work while I can. There will come a day when I will either have to cut my hours down or resign but I hope that is not for a long time yet.

So in the meantime, I will remind myself I am not feeling that crash hot and will do what I can to feel much better and prepped ready to get back into work Monday morning and try to 'stop feeling guilty!'

Friday 29th September 2017 - 11.31am