Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The Uncommon Cold

I know this blog has turned into a big complain-a-thon lately, and I'm honestly sorry about that, but my life is generally pretty crappy right now so please bear with me. If you’re still reading this: thank you. I really do appreciate the support.

Right now I have a cold. My nose is stuffed, my throat is sore, my head is pounding, and I can’t stop coughing. I know the common cold is usually nothing to be afraid of, but (a) my immune system is all messed up to begin with and (b) I’m on all kinds of drugs that purposefully mess up my immune system even more.

So having never had a cold at the same time as having a weakened immune system, I called student health this morning to ask if there was anything special I should be doing. Do I need to come in? Should I be taking something? Can my immune system handle this? I talked to a nurse who said he’d talk to the doctor and call me back.

Of course, he never called back.

So, on top of already feeling like my body has been run over by a steamroller from the RA, I’m now coughing my lungs up as well. And if I weren’t so exhausted by the whole thing I think I would be pretty worried because I don’t know whether my uncommon body is actually capable of fighting off this common cold. And let me tell you that being sick on top of having RA is doing nothing for my spirits.

My immune system needs a vacation.

2 comments:

Rebecca said...

Sounds like your immune system is on vacation but forgot to invite the rest of you. I'm making chicken soup this evening just for you. I can't remember: do you like/eat celery & carrots, or should I go light on those?

::hugs::

Little Red said...

Don't you DARE worry about being a downer. You're handling something extremely difficult with remarkable calm. We're all on your side, beautiful. :-)