The sickness that was lingering in my household has finally left, but it didn’t go down without a fight! What I thought was just your normal run of the mill sickness or flu, turned out to be PNEUMONIA! I continued with my normal sick routine of cold meds, sprite and soup and of course the same daily routine of chores. I was determined to outwork this sickness and force it to give up the fight in my body and move on. I was still trying to work with the show bulls because we had a big show coming up in Jackson Mississippi and I was excited to go to. For whatever reason, I was not getting better and just kept feeling worse.
My daughter came to the rescue once again and had me come to her house for a few days so she could monitor me because she defiantly did not think I was getting better, even though I was adamant I was. She was certain that me trying to “outwork” this sickness by continuing to go outside and do farm stuff was not helping. I am the worst patient ever and my husband can attest to the fact I am very hard-headed when it comes to being sick or injured and attempting to rest. Going to my daughters where there was nothing for me to do was the best bet for me to get some rest.
She enjoys making all kinds of healthy things, but for me it is just some weird concoction she has made up to torture me for that time I put vegetables in tator tot casserole (she has never let me forget that ONE time). I had some drink that looked and smelled like orange juice but was clearly not OJ due to the spicy nature of the turmeric, ginger and coconut water she had blended in her Ninja.
After two days of all of this “extra care” and relaxing on her couch watching TV doing nothing, I had not even remotely started feeling better. My plan was to just drive myself back home and continue on with whatever I was doing that was clearly not working, but she insisted we go to urgent care. Not that anyone enjoys a trip to urgent care, I especially don’t because sick people are there, and I might pick up some new germs AND I did not feel like I needed to waste the Dr’s time when nothing was really wrong.
Needless to say, we went and when the Dr. asked me what was wrong, of course I replied with, “I don’t know, I just don’t feel good.” My daughter gave her my farm background and all my symptoms and the fact I was still trying to do chores and not resting. I may have gotten a few raised eyebrows from the Dr. and when I told her my pain was a 2 on the pain scale, I was pretty sure she didn’t believe me. She ordered blood work and a chest x-ray and by this time we could hear the waiting room starting to fill up with really sick people and coughing kids. I felt horrible taking up a room when there were people clearly more sick than me that were waiting.
The nurse came in a bit later with a breathing machine and a syringe of medicine and I am not afraid of needles, I have given plenty of shots, but I am not really keen on getting them. While squeezing my daughters hand (she owes me this from all the times as a kid she got shots), the nurse injected what I am pretty sure was a big shot of Nuflor into my upper thigh.
Once that torture was over, the Dr. came in and informed me that for someone that never gets sick, I really had done it good this time and had Pneumonia. She also said if this was the ER she would admit me because I was that sick! We left the urgent care with an inhaler, a breathing machine and meds for that, two antibiotics and a steroid prescription. Also, strict orders to my daughter if I run a fever or my oxygen level drops, she is to get me to the ER immediately. At that point I decided I REALLY was sick and finally felt better about going to urgent care. I was not happy about the big shot I received as I could barely walk for about two days afterwards. I have been kicked by bulls and it not hurt as bad!
Speaking of the bulls, after this little ordeal and I made it back home, my husband informed me we WERE NOT going to Mississippi to the cattle show. He was not interested in us getting down there and me getting sick and ending up in the hospital. Since we were only 5 days away from leaving, I agreed we would stay home. When the day came we could have left, I may have been pouting about staying home. It did take me a good two weeks from that urgent care visit to even begin to start feeling better, but I am finally back to my old self.
I am still sad about missing that big show with the bulls, but we are getting ready to be full swing into show season with all the kids I haul around. I am sure I will get my fill of shows in the next few months!
Debbie Elder is a native of Ottawa County, Okla. and lives on her farm in Webster County, Mo. To contact Debbie, call 1-866-532-1960 or by email at [email protected].
