....And we're back

Sorry for the two weeks I took off of writing...things have been quite chaotic for me the last two weeks and I'm not finally able to have a few minutes to myself to get all of my thoughts caught up with everything. In a nutshell my last two weeks have been comprised of one case of the flu, two emergency room visits, one treatment, and one broken bone. I wasn't joking when I said things have been crazy...
So I ended up getting a flu-like virus because I pretty much have that sort of luck lately and it was not fun at all. The worst part about getting sick is that I have to worry about how I'll be able to recover. Undergoing chemo means that my immune system is working overtime constantly to try to regenerate itself after taking the punch each treatment gives. Of course there is always that one worry that tops everything...what if this is the sickness that I can't come back from? That's very scary to think about because the flu can easy turn into pneumonia which could easily turn into organ failure and death. For many cancer patients this is how their battles end. Our bodies take a beating from the treatments and catching a cold or the flu could be the tipping point for any of us no matter how healthy we may seem. So it's easy to understand why I'd have to go into the city to the Urgent Care center at Sloan. I had a fever of about 102.5 that lasted a few days and I knew my doctor would yell at me if I didn't call to report it to her. That of course would mean a field trip into the city to visit Sloan's version of an emergency room. It's meant for current patients only and some are in much worse shape than others. It's always a long wait, but as I sat there in the lobby I got to observe many different people. Some seemed to have similar ailments as mine, some didn't look like they were doing too well, one woman was visiting her husband and tripped and broke her ankle, but there were also those who might not make it out of that hospital this time. It's always a sobering trip to the main hospital because I am not always exposed to the true perils of cancer at the outpatient facility where I receive my treatments. Here is where some people come in with what starts off as a simple case of the flu but never make it out because they are outmatched this time by the illness. I had some bloodwork done and other cultures to ensure I didn't have any sort of infection. I was also sent for a chest x-ray to make sure there were no signs of pneumonia (the x-ray tech was gorgeous so this helped cheer me up even though I felt like crap). All in all my trip to Urgent Care wasn't very eventful and I began feeling better the very next day thanks to some miracle flu drugs they gave me. Little did I know things were just starting to get exciting...
My flu-like virus left me with a lingering cough that was simply annoying more than anything. It was all annoying until I woke up during the night and twisted my body awkwardly only to let out a very violent series of coughs. I took a swig of gatorade and rolled over. The next day I was a little sore right underneath my left pectoral muscle and figured that I might have pulled it a bit during my awkward twisting motion the previous night. I continued on in my day and the pain started to grow worse and worse. The next day I was a bit cranky because I had not slept well thanks to that same pain and to make matters worse I had to go to class. I couldn't sit still in class from the pain and I almost had to leave my second one because the pain was so intense that every breath I took made me wince in agony. I had a few errands I needed to run after school, but I decided to put them off and flew home to seek the relief of some pain killers. I felt a little better once the medicine kicked in and I was able to make up for some of the sleep I lost. When I awoke, however, I was reminded that something was definitely wrong...The worst pain I've ever felt in my life was from my knee surgery in high school where the doctors removed much of the cartilage in my right knee and inserted plastic anchors. When those pain meds wore off I was in absolute agony. When i awoke from the nap I turned to get out of bed and felt immediately as if someone had stabbed me and was twisting the rusty blade in the wound. I let out a not so nice series of French words (had no idea I knew any) and took a second to get myself oriented for another attempt. I gathered my strength and forced myself out of bed even though I almost passed out from how painful it was. I really didn't feel like passing out while no one else was home because I could only imagine how shocking that sight would be for my parents to find me face down on the floor. I shuffled my way down the stairs and sat on the couch while the minutes until my dad got home slowly passed by. When he came in he knew I was not joking around because every breath I took and every small movement resulted in pain so bad I was close to tears. I assured him I was not having a heart attack and we decided it was still best to head to the local emergency room to get it checked out. Luckily we picked a good time and date when no one else was getting hurt so there wasn't a wait when we got to the hospital. I waited for what seemed like hours, but in reality it turned out to be about 35 minutes for the x-ray tech to be ready for me. They took yet another chest x-ray and finally the oxycodone I took at home was starting to kick in. This made moving and breathing much easier...of course the feeling of being on drugs was welcomed at this point after I spent the entire day angry that I wouldn't be able to begin working out and getting in shape for my spring break trip to Florida in March. The doctor saw nothing wrong on the x-ray and simply sent me home telling me to take the pain meds as I needed. I knew there was no way nothing was broken so I got my clothes back on and started walking out of the hospital before the nurses even discharged me. I was not a happy camper to say the least because I knew that with no conclusions being reached locally, my doctor would want me to head into the city for more tests at Urgent Care. I was not in the mood for this so we decided to go back home and regulate the pain until tomorrow. The night and following day were agonizing when the pain meds wore off and I hadn't moved from my position on the couch. That night when my parents came home they said I had a message from the emergency room we were at last night and they wanted me to call back. I talked to the radiologist who had the chance to take a closer look at my x-ray that morning and indeed it showed that one of my ribs was broken. I KNEW IT WAS THE WHOLE TIME!!!!! It was nice having some sort of confirmation because there is no way a person should be in agonizing pain like I was in for absolutely no reason. Plus, it's nice to know that whatever was ailing me was not really related to my underlying condition. I rested the next few days because there isn't anything you can do for a broken rib except try not to sneeze or cough because they both hurt like hell. Go figure, I've played sports my whole life and have never broken a bone, but I coughed and broke my damn rib. One day I'm going to look back on all of this and laugh...for now I will simply try not to cough or sneeze too hard so I can be fully healthy to start playing golf again in the spring.