Air!

Finally! I can breathe!

Yesterday 'Ann-Tee' as Dolly calls her, came over to help me with the kids. She called me up Monday morning to see if I could use some help Thursday since that was the day she could come over. It worked out perfectly, because on Monday I called my doctor's office to make an appointment for as soon as possible. I wasn't feeling any better than I had been on Saturday, and the cough syrup that was giving me enough help to fall asleep each night was almost gone. Thursday happened to be the soonest I could be seen and even then I'd be seeing a different doctor since our family doctor was booked until next week.

Anyway Ann-Tee came over at 9:30 and I was able to take a shower and WASH MY HAIR! Washing my hair makes my shower twice as long, so unless I have time to spare aka: using valuable nap minutes, I pin my hair up and do my best to speed wash the sour milk off of me. Then while I got started attempting to make some order in my kitchen, Ann-Tee kept my kids happily entertained by reading all the books they kept bringing her. I'm sure she read a few of them more than once too. By the time the kitchen was halfway presentable, it was time for lunch and I had enough time to eat my own lunch and feed Emma before it was time to leave for my appointment.

The doctor listened to my wheezy gasping (it hardly qualified as breathing)and agreed that I needed some inhalers. I had told her I'd dug up an old inhaler the day before and had used it in spite of it being expired because I just could not breathe. If I'd had a car, I would have headed for the ER, but I only have the car if I ask for it ahead of time. So, I was given a sample conditioning inhaler and a prescription for a quick-acting inhaler to use as needed. She also gave me another cough syrup prescription since I'd asked about getting more as it really made a difference in calming my cough and getting to sleep.

It was past my kids' naptime so I didn't wait around for the prescriptions to be filled. I was planning on going back to that area to pick Sir up from work later and could get my medicines then. I didn't want to leave Ann-Tee with my fussy, tired kids for any longer than was necessary. As it was, when I got home it was nearly an hour past their normal naptime, and since I was planning to pick Sir up, I'd have to wake the kids up before they'd slept long enough. I put my kids to bed and Ann-Tee headed home. It was pouring rain all day long that day, and I felt terrible letting her walk. I had offered her a ride home, but she said she'd take the bus like usual. I could have packed all the kids up and driven her, but then they would have completely missed their nap that day. They didn't settle down for a long time that afternoon so they barely got a nap in after all. Oh well. Not everything goes according to plan.

While I was at the doctor's, HisLady dropped by to deliver a pot of soup for our supper. She stayed and helped Ann-Tee with the kids for almost half an hour and finished cleaning up my kitchen while she was there. She was gone by the time I got home, but it was nice not to have to come up with supper that evening!

After we picked Sir up from work, we dropped by the pharmacy to get my filled prescriptions. I've been using the fast-acting inhaler as needed, and I have room in my lungs to breathe! It's such a relief. I can climb the stairs without collapsing in the nearest chair for ten minutes hacking away as I gasped for breath. I can breathe deeply enough to actually cough up some of the gunk in my lungs. I can breathe and I'm so glad!

I was feeling so much better today, that when Bashful and her kids dropped by to drop off our supper and to help me for a couple hours, we tackled the job of cleaning the carpet in the dining room! It was so nice to have energy enough to be productive. It was nice having an extra pair of hands to work on the carpet stains too. The kids kept each other busy building forts out of the living room furniture, pillows and blankets, so they stayed out of our way which made the work faster. When we were just about done with the carpet, Bashful took the older three of our six kids and walked down to McDonalds where she grabbed some lunch. With just the three little ones (all of them sleeping at the time) I was able to finish the carpet job. It's nice to have a clean floor in the dining room again!

Maybe it's the antibiotics finally making a difference... maybe it's being able to breathe... maybe it's both, but I finally feel like I've gotten past the worst of this bug. Things are looking up and I'm sure I'll be feeling ten times better tomorrow than I did last Saturday!