I had another chest x-ray and breathing test yesterday, and it looks like my pneumonia is mostly all gone now. I feel MUCH better than I did 2 months ago, but I've literally done nothing physically since being diagnosed back in June. No yoga, no mowing the lawn....I barely walked up and down the stairs for a month. But all of that is better now (I'm still not mowing....no glutton for punishment here!) but also no yoga (I hope to remedy that next week when Izzy's at camp).
I also had an esophagram last week to try to get to the bottom of why I continue to get pneumonia. It was an uncomfortable procedure (barium drink is gross.....) but it didn't reveal any issues with my anatomy that could be contributing to the frequency of my pneumonia. Not a total loss I guess...at least we've ruled that out. It almost feels like now we're just waiting for the next time I get it.
Also, the ever-persistent cough is gone for now. After doing some research, and talking to a friend on Instagram who also has FSGS, I think I have something called laryngeal sensory neuropathy. Essentially, as I understand it, the nerves in my throat have become "irritated" from all of the coughing I do. So now, when I cough a lot, it triggers this neuropathy, and it can last anywhere from 3-6 weeks for me. There are medications available to treat the neuropathy, and there's also botox injections to the affected nerves (worst case scenario). I have an appointment with the University of Minnesota's Cough Clinic next week (I was referred there by my ENT), so I'm SUPER hopeful that this can be addressed there and we can develop a long-term plan for this intermittent, but all-consuming problem.
My sinuses are pretty good right now considering it's the beginning of ragweed season. My bronchiectasis has been very manageable for the last several days, so today I'll say that I feel good :) I think that catches up on all of the medical things (except for the sharp pain in my back, but I'll get to that in a minute).
So, the week before last, Izzy and I had planned a road trip to Indiana to visit my parents and my Grandma and some friends. Joacim was headed to Canada for a fishing trip, and we didn't have any appointments in a 6-day stretch, so we figured "why not?". We headed out Tuesday, late morning. We were less than an hour into our drive, just on the other side of the Twin Cities but not yet in Wisconsin, and Izzy was having problems getting her new bluetooth headphones to connect to my iPad because she wanted to watch a movie. I knew this was something I couldn't do while driving, so I hopped off on the Radio Drive exit in Woodbury, pulled over to the side where there was plenty of space, and fixed the pairing issue. We got all settled again, re-entered that exit ramp, and got in the lane to go straight across to get back onto the interstate. The light had just turned yellow but I was already committed and then WHAM! A car hit us on the passenger side.
First of all, we're ok. Everyone involved. Izzy was shaken up (rightfully) but once she realized she was ok, she was a champ considering the scariness of the situation. My first thoughts after the accident were (in this order):
- Shit. Did I run a red light?
- Shit shit..Joacim's going to kill me because he's not going to be able to go on his fishing trip (he didn't go one other year because I had pneumonia)
- Shit Shit SHIIIIIIIT. I ruined Joacim's car!!!!
We were driving the Volvo. THANKFULLY....that thing is built like a tank, and the impact was not as jarring as I had always imagined. That being said, a week later, I'm feeling some of the effects from the wreck. The back pain was substantially worse after it. I got everything checked out at Urgent Care the next day, and I started going to the chiropractor and getting massages this week.
But it's totaled. Gone. Kaput. Bye Bye. Sayonara.....
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| Our car (and me taking a picture of it) |
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| her car |
I remember crossing the intersection and hearing a horn honk, so turned my head to the right and all I saw was a car smashing into us. That car was going at a decent speed, so we continued to move forward and to the left, across the intersection, after she hit us. The entire time I'm just focusing on trying to keep our car relatively straight because there's a fence on the left-side that I was trying to avoid because I didn't want to be trapped in the car. We didn't see her coming, didn't even have a chance to apply the brake or anything. She hit the door of the passenger side, and then wrapped around to the passenger seat. Side airbags deployed on our car, and the steering wheel bags deployed on hers.
When we came to a stop, I got out of the car, pried Izzy's door open to get her out and then checked on the woman in the other car. She said she was okay....a little dazed but ok. And then all of a sudden there was another person there (who ended up being a witness to it all) and then the sheriff. Izzy and I were whisked away back to the car to answer some questions by the community service officers. Am ambulance and a fire truck (I think) showed up to make sure we were all okay as well. I called Joacim to tell him what happened, and I'm so glad he was still at home. While he drove to pick us up, the tow truck showed up, we got our personal belongings like my purse and Izzy's backpack and our cooler, and the community offers dropped us off at the Cabela's across the street to wait.
The car was stuffed with 9 boxes of dialysate, the machine itself, the compression vest, a large suitcase for supplies, and two small ones for Izzy and my stuff. It all had to stay in the car while being towed, which meant Joacim had to pick us up, and THEN drive us to the towing place to get out stuff. I had to file the insurance claim while waiting at Cabela's (while Izzy and I sat outside and ate all of our road trip candy :), and then we had to deal with permission to remove our stuff and permission to move the vehicle and on and on and on.
Gawd...I'm amazed at what we got done. In 2 1/2 hours I had a wreck, filed an insurance claim, got all of our stuff out of the car in Stillwater, drove an hour home and unpacked ourselves and packed Joacim, and got him going on his trip. We left all of the dialysate in the car in the tow yard because the Jeep isn't big enough to put everything into. Not terribly important because I can easily get more, but it's annoying that I have to.
I've done all of the insurance interviews, and we already got the cheque from State Farm for the Volvo, so this week has been spent car hunting, which isn't as fun when being forced into it. We've been looking at cars for awhile because we knew we'd have to get one to replace the Volvo in a year or two, but we weren't planning on doing it this summer. It's so scary now that I'm not working, and I'm so unsure of everything.
