Doctors visit for razorblade throat

Thank goodness I finally got to my doctors appointment this morning. I put a message up on facebook saying how I wish someone could take me as I was feeling dizzy, nauseous and was worried about driving as I had also only had minimal sleep throughout the night. I had a number of offers from people, and cripes how humbling. Anyone who knows me well will know I don’t ask for help very often and actually I didn’t really expect such a response. I don’t know what I expected...I just put the post up without thinking. My lovely sister-in-law came and picked me up, so it was a great chance to have a bit of a catch up. I am now home and tucked up in bed. So a huge thank you to my sissy-in-law and also to everyone else for their thoughts and offers. I am so lucky to have so many willing to jump in and help.

My appointment: The doctor gave me a thorough going over - she is just lovely. I have pharyngitis which actually is just a flash word for sore throat. My glands are really sore and at first she thought it was probably viral but soon discovered I have a high temp (37.9 - not that high if you ask me) so has given me a script for antibiotics just in case I get any worse. She thought with plenty of rest and fluids (water, not cups of tea), I should come right in the next few days. So I am home from work again tomorrow and also have the weekend to recover. Guess I should have listened more closely to my daughter and supervisor after all! The headaches are from the high temperature, hence why I need to drink more water. The dizziness comes from my blocked ear and has nothing to do with the throat or cold. It is purely packed solid with ear wax (how embarrassing) and so she was unable to irrigate it. So I have been given some stuff to put in my ears (yes, both!) at night time for a few nights and then go back in a couple of weeks time so they can then irrigate them - damn, damn and blast! I didn’t really want to have to go back.

The doctor also gave me a bit of a lecture about my fatty liver results. I need to lose some weight and do exercise before the damage is irreversible. It was quite good, she explained the importance of why I need to. So maybe, just maybe this will get me in the right mode. Also the paracodeine which I swallow on a very regular basis is not conducive to my liver and she is going to try and wean me off it and use something else. She wants me to take something called nortriptyline, at night before I go to bed. Details get a bit hazy here...this stuff will re-route from my brain or to my brain, how I feel about the aches and pains I suffer from, and to stretch out the time between doses of paracodeine. From 4 hourly to 6 and then eventually to every 8 hours. I don’t think this will be too much of an issue as sometimes I do that anyhow, without meaning to. I just forget to take it. I worry about taking new medication without the say so of the oncologist as I think my cancer meds take precedence over everything else. When I mentioned this to the doctor, she was great and said they have this app or something where they can check if any new meds can affect your other meds. This came up as good to go...but I still feel a little nervous. I might ring the oncology nurse and pass it by her to check out with one of the oncology doctors. Simply for peace of mind.

Hubby has gone for a walk down the road to get my script filled out. I might go and have some lunch and have a snooze. I have had bugger all sleep throughout the night and my eyes are feeling a little heavy. Think this tired body requires some much needed rest.

Thank you again everyone for your thoughts and concern. For the early morning phone call from an old friend who was concerned when she read my early morning post about my pounding headache - was lovely to catch up and look forward to seeing you in person very soon - for the offers to take me to my appointment - for the offer from my Opotiki whanau to pay for an Uber - for the concern shown by my supervisor - my cousin in Howick who wished she could come and pick me up - my daughter who would have taken time off work to take me -  to Shell for picking me up and dropping home again - to everyone! You are all amazing and I am so grateful to, and for all of you.

Thursday 26th October 2017 - 1.26pm