A Trip to the Doctor and Forced Relaxation
{ August 11th, 2008 }
I think he started feeling cruddy on Friday afternoon, but we went out to dinner with some of his colleagues anyway. But by 9:00, I could tell that he had a headache, and it looked like it was getting worse as time went on. By the time our bill finally came at 10:00, it was pretty obvious that home was our next destination. He crawled into bed and was just about asleep by the time I got done brushing my teeth. He had a low-grade fever, but nothing that warranted much worry. Advil and Tylenol and sleep.
Saturday morning he was feeling better. His fever was gone, but his throat was sore and he definitely wasn’t 100%. By 11, he was back in bed and looking like he felt pretty icky. He canceled a meeting that he had and we watched movies throughout the afternoon. His fever came back, again, nothing major, but it climbed as the afternoon went on.
He and I argued about whether or not we should keep our dinner plans with some Kampala Couchsurfers. I thought that with a fever of 100.4 we should stay home and chill out. In Uganda, we agreed we would treat every fever like malaria, even though most wouldn’t be. But Jon insisted and we went.
It was good to meet the Couchsurfers, but when we got home at 9:30, Jon’s fever had climbed and he wasn’t feeling good. By 10:30 and with a fever of 101.2, Jon and I were in a taxi to the Surgery, a private facility with 24-hour service, that is also covered by our health insurance (though we found out it’s all through reimbursement). Jon felt gross, and I was pissed that we were going to the doctor at 10:30—it was exactly what I didn’t want to do, and the reason I had protested so vehemently against going to dinner.
The Surgery was small—just a few rooms, at least that we could see. But Jon was taken back just a few minutes after he’d checked in. He explained to the doctor what he was feeling. Blood pressure normal, temperature high, throat red and raw, but not pussy. Breathing okay. She thought it was probably just a cold, likely viral, but maybe bacterial. She issued Jon some cold medicine (essentially Nyquil, I think), and we declined the ibuprophen since we have a Costco-sized stash right now.
Jon was then taken up to do a blood draw to look for malaria and other bacteria. All instruments were one-time-use and out opened from their package in front of us. And they were able to do a near-instant malaria test, which as we expected, but were relieved to find, was negative. A slide was prepped to do the search for bacteria, but it couldn’t be read until the next day.
At 11:30, we called a cab and went home.
Jon took his cold syrup, and that, with the ibuprophen at the doctor’s office, and some additional Tylenol was sufficient night-cap to go to bed to.
Sunday morning, his fever was down again, and he was feeling better. However, he was definitely a sneezing machine, and was successful in using all of the tissues in the house by evening.
We had been invited by some neighbors to “call around for tea” at 2:00 on Sunday. We talked about canceling, but Jon said he was feeling well enough to go. So we went. I think that his fever must have spiked up again, because although it was quite warm in their house, and it’s definitely humid, Jon sweat through his shirt while we were having tea, and poor guy, he used most of the neighbors’ tissues, too. Perhaps against better judgment, we took a little walk around our neighborhood. It was good to be out a little and to see some parts of the neighborhood that we hadn’t yet seen.
We came back to the house and watched the remainder of a movie. Jon again began to decline. I made dinner, but by the time it was ready, his stomach wasn’t feeling well, so he took about three bites and went back to bed. At 9:30, his fever was back to about 100.4. We loaded him up with medicine and he went to sleep.
Today he’s much less sneezy and seems to be less mucousy in general. I still don’t think he’s feeling 100%, and so we’ll try to take it easy.
Taking it easy would be significantly easier if we had internet at the house. I know that he’s not pleased that we didn’t get into town to use the internet this weekend. He’s worried about losing jobs.
While I was eating breakfast this morning, Godfrey told me that the septic tank is likely full. In fact, it looks as though it’s back up across the yard. I’m not sure if it’s full or if it’s clogged, but it’s unpleasant, and not really want I wanted to deal with this morning. I called our landlord to ask if he had a septic person that he uses. He called his plumber and the plumber will be over between 3 and 4 this afternoon.
In the mean time, sitting still for a little bit gave us the time to call the garbage people and set up a collection schedule. Now we’re waiting for them to come—sometime before lunch.
So now, we’re “forced” to sit and wait. Although I, too, am a little antsy at not being able to use the internet (feeling like there’s a lot of work to be done online), I’m glad that we have an excuse to take a slow morning.
Well scrap that. Jon’s heading into town to use the internet, and I’m waiting for the trash guys.
