Temporary (debatable) Lapse In Sanity...

TippyTopple:

Thank you for your reply...I WON'T post your most recent comment due to the private nature of the content (which, BTW, I DID already know where you work...the Internet is so transparent.), but I DO very much appreciate the sincerity of your response. And I will post MY update here:

(For those of you "not in the know", I posted a quite "curt" reply to TT's comment on the post "Send Food/Water/Medicine...Please", which I later deleted due to a temporary lapse in sanity in posting it in the first place!)

My neighborhood remains without bus transportation, in spite of recent snow-changing-to-rain, because the City of Seattle STILL has not cleared our roadways...we continue to have about 6 - 8 inches of ice-covered snow on our streets, which even Metro Transit will not attempt to navigate, while the rest of the city *appears* to be returning to some semblance of normalcy. This basically means, we REMAIN stranded in our neighborhood unless someone has all/wheel, 4/wheel, or chains on their vehicles to get us out.

My neighbor, Ms. B, was able to get her daughter to take a bus from the SeaTac area (near the airport) as close as she could get to my neighborhood (that *closeness* would be 4th and Jackson DOWNTOWN...about 2 1/2 miles away), WALK in the rest of the way, THEN WALK up the hills to Ms. B's pharmacy provider (about another 1.8 miles away...round trip to pharmacy, a little over 3 miles) to retrieve her diabetes/HTN medications. And my elderly neighbor, Mr. T, probably has some mild frostbite to his hands, but I'm told REFUSES to go to Harborview ER for evaluation.

As for me...I TOTALLY respect Mr. T's decision! LOL I have also NOT sought out in person medical evaluation (via ER, because that's ALL that's open around here) for what I am certain is viral bronchitis. "Why, HOW do you know this, BRAINCHEESE?" you may be asking.

Well, here's how I can be fairly certain. My symptoms began slowly over the course of about 4 days, culminating into white patches on my tonsils, sore throat, head/chest congestion, cough, low grade fever (100-ish, no matter if I took Ibuprofen or Tylenol...another tell-tale sign a virus is lurking...fever neither spikes high nor goes away entirely), malaise, aching joints, lack of appetite, and a *freight train roaring* in my chest as well as serious wheezing when supine. I listened to my lungs (hey, EVERY nurse owns a stethoscope!) and did not hear any gurgling/rales/ronchi or diminished breath sounds (typical airway assessment)...just AmTrak roaring up and out of my windpipe (bronchi). I most likely contracted a grand case of the "flu", complicated by bronchitis.

So, how can I be CERTAIN I do not have pneumonia? Well, I can't be certain without a chest X-ray and a WBC (White Blood Count). But, I have NOT spiked a high fever (102 or above), have NOT developed severe chest pain or serious shortness of breath, have NOT had a sudden case of "chills", and I've NOT become delirious (well, except for that sudden lapse in manners when posting a reply to TippyTopple!)...all classic signs of bacterial pneumonia if I DID have any of the previous mentioned symptoms. That's not to say I have not developed VIRAL PNEUMONIA (used to be called "walking pneumonia") OR that I cannot develop BACTERIAL PNEUMONIA...I'm just not willing to waste a trip to the ER at this point because I'll probably be told I have the "flu".

Since I am on Tysabri (with potential lowered immune response), I have had email contact with Dr. She Who Will Not Be Named...she concurs with my assessment (I LOVE that word: concur. It feels so...doctor-ish). I have an old Albuterol inhaler to try and open up my airways, I've got Vicodin (which is synthetic codeine/hydrocodone...which is what is in cough medicine...codeine...to suppress cough), and if I spike a high temp, I'll head to an ER for antibiotics (which, BTW, overuse of antibiotics IS one of the main reasons we now how antibiotic resistant infections, such as MRSA!).

"But, how will you get to an ER, BRAINCHEESE? You're roads are still socked in."

Yesterday...Christmas Day...when I was feeling quite lower than hammered CaCa...I received a call from my coworkers. They were coming to my "hood" in an All Wheel Drive Vehicle and bringing supplies. They bounded into my home (walking part of the way) with Chinese food (think "Christmas Story" here and laugh out loud with the "Tis the sees run to be jaw ry, fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra"). They will *retrieve* me if I need emergency care...I WORK for a branch of emergency services after all. Somehow, I had FORGOTTEN this connection in my total despair and cabin fever/real fever.

SO, thank you, TippyTopple (if that really IS your name! LOL) for your generous offer of assistance to my "hood"...my little neck of the snowbound neighborhood appears to be managing (Ms. B actually sent her granddaughter across the icy, snow-covered hill with a SWEET POTATO PIE for me yesterday!) at the moment...we still *hope* the City of Seattle will NOT continue to forget us and maybe, just maybe, bring a snow plow or sanding truck down our streets ONCE. Or, perhaps Mother Nature will recognize we have paid our *dues* over here and send some above freezing weather to melt this crystal-white blanket covering us.

At the moment, I have more FAITH in Mother Nature than my Emerald City management...