Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Who needs sleep?

Boomer is doing much better. His leg swelling is gone although he was pretty stocked up in the back yesterday. I trotted him around the round pen for about 10 minutes and the swelling went down. I'm getting his antibiotics down by mixing them with peach baby food. I didn't think the first time I did it and I mixed two tubs of baby food with water to make it easier to suck up into the syringe. There had to be 15-20 syringefuls of stuff there. Luckily Boomer is patient and a good boy. He learned quickly that I WANTED his head up high and he started lowering it (because he is oppositional), which actually made it easier to get ahold of him and get the syringe in his mouth, then I raised it up to make him swallow. I figured out that sticking the syringe between his cheek and teeth made it harder for him to spit it out, and if I kept the syringe in his mouth horizontally, like a bit, after I was done he had to work his mouth and swallow it right away. The Gerber peach baby food is great because it is pretty liquid, and there is room at the top of the tub for one scoop (25mg). I put in the scoop, put on the lid, and shake, then I suck up one syringe to make more room and add the second scoop and shake. Not too bad.

I got my tires and new rim yesterday! My tires are awesome! They are 8 ply which means they have pretty thick rubber and the tread is super deep! I am excited. Having new tires fixed my alignment problem. The tires guys said it wasn't out of alignment at all and sure enough, the truck doesn't pull right with the new tires!

John and I went to the urgent care clinic last night because we have both been coughing for a few weeks. It is only at night and it is awful. In the day time, I am 100% fine. I can bike uphill to class and be active outside just fine. John coughs sometimes in the morning though. This has been going on for about 6-8 weeks. I think it is whooping cough. Kansas City had a number of cases recently. I read that only about 50% of people actually have the 'whoop' after the cough. We do not. In China it is called the 100 day cough. We had been taking Nyquil at night, but that only lasts for a few hours and we wake up with this huge painful coughing fit. Urgent care advised me to try Claritin D. Well, apparently a side effect of Claritin D is sleeplessness, nervousness, shakiness, etc. So, that didn't help me sleep better. And I had a fever and cold sweats. Plus, I was still coughing! I'm kind of mad they didn't prescribe me something for the cough so I called them back and am waiting to hear back from a nurse. Arg. I just want something to knock either me or the cough out.

I should study this morning, but I just want a nap! I think I will take my books downstairs and study on the new couch so that I can nap as I read :)

5 comments:

Shanster said...

Yikes - feel better soon! Who knew there was still whooping cough and adults got it?

Your new tires sound awesome and I'm so glad Boomer is on the road to recovery!

Sera has a case of scratches on her left hind heel... bleah. Lots of scrubbing and scrubbing. She's been o.k. so far.... not trying to bash my melon head yet...

Heather said...

Boomer was surprisingly good about not kicking my head when he had scratches too! I just used a warm wet washcloth to loosen the scabs and then rubbed on Desitin after his leg dried. It seems to have cleared things up but it seemed to take forever!
Has it been rainy there?

Sally said...

Did they ever call back about the cough? I hope you guys get better soon. I am glad Boomer is feeling okay and post when you plan on a CTR or 25 miler!

Heather said...

Sally- I went back to the DR and he said that I am allergic to decongestants. So, I can't have anything with a D after it. He also decided that I may have walking pneumonia and gave me a Z pack and inhaler. I already feel better today and didn't cough last night!

Shanster said...

It WAS rainy all summer this year - record rain fall and now it's dry so hopefully the scratches won't last long.... they are starting to look better. I'll have to pick up some Desitin, I'd just been attacking them with betadine scrub every chance I get... my HANDS are sure drying out!

Glad you are better!! Allergic and walking pnuemonia are pretty serious!!