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Who's in your corner?

3/15/2017

1 Comment

 
I'm getting sick.

Scratchy throat. Sleeping a lot. Feeling hot. Who knows how hot? The glass thermometer is broken.


Feeling hotter. Wow, a fancy new thermometer, plastic, beeps when the cooking’s done. 102.3 degrees.


Dr. K prescribes a Z pack, 5 days of Zithromax.


Five days later, I’m still hot, falling asleep whenever I lie down, lying down a lot.


I tell my daughter I can’t breathe deeply, I feel low on oxygen.


“You should ask Dr. K for oxygen,” she says.  I go back to sleep.


While I sleep, my daughter calls my husband. She tells him to get me some oxygen.


My husband walks into the doctor’s office. He says that I need oxygen. This gets the doctor's instant attention. 


Rather than admit me to the hospital for oxygen, he sends me for blood tests and an x-ray. 


I have pneumonia.


Dr.K ups the ante from Zithromax (on my final dose, I’m still no better) to Moxifloxacine, a drug so scary he calls to talk about the dire warnings I’ll see on the inserts. He has considered the options before choosing this one.


I trust his judgment. 


With moxifloxacine and rest, I get better.


Too sick to advocate for myself, I have a daughter, a husband, and a doctor, who all look out for me.


​Who’s in your corner?
1 Comment
Carol Baumgartel Sorensen
3/15/2017 05:35:05 pm

I know this scenario, I am going no to my doctor tomorrow!!!

No one is in my corner...maybe that's my own doing!

Reply



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    Author

    Elise Rosenhaupt, author of the memoir Climbing Back, writes about her work as a patient's advocate and other experiences that cross her plate.​

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Copyright © 2015 Elise Rosenhaupt
  • HOME
  • Blog
  • AUTHOR
  • EXCERPTS
    • FOREWORD
    • PAGES 1 - 10
    • PAGES 38-40
    • PAGES 87-88
    • PAGES 96-99
    • PAGES 204-205
  • REVIEWS, etc.
  • THERAPISTS' NOTES
  • BUY it!
  • CONTACT