Apparently....

I am going to live.
It is just allergies.
My mother was right. I bought some Robitusson cough suppressent and have been drinking a little bit throughout the day and it seems to be helping. I even drank the vitamin water she gave me and liked it (thanks mom!).

I should have been a pro golfer

Tonight I went over to see my parents, hoping for some parental sympathy for my never ending cough (and also, I like my parents and wanted to see them). When I got there they were watching a women's golf tournament on television. I made my usual comment about how boring golf is on tv, but they didn't pick up the hint and change the station (not that I really thought they would, but it never hurts to try). Our conversation went a little like this:

Mom: how are you feeling

Me: really sick. I'm probably going to die.

Mom: Oh! Did you see that Dale? That was so close! (referring to the putt just made on the television).

Dad: No it wasn't.

Mom: Yes it was.

Dad: No it wasn't. If it was close it would have skimmed the cup.

Me: Do you think I should go to the doctor again? I'm thinking of going to an allergist.

Mom: (watching the golf tourney). You need to take more vitamin C. Are you drinking lots of water?

Me: But I think it might be more than just allergies because it's not really getting better and I throw up a lot.

Mom: (watches golf tourney and ignores me)

Me: I'm really sick

still no response. after a few minutes a commercial break comes....finally! some attention on me!

Mom: You need to go to walgreens and get some cough suppressant. it's just allergies.

Me: (reverting back into my role as the baby of the family needing all the attention) Well I think you like Lorena (the golfer currently leading the tournament) better than you like me.

Mom: Oh, I love Lorena. She is my most favorite!

Me: i should have been a pro golfer. Then you would love me more.

Mom: Kelly, if I remember correctly, you were never into athletics. When I was young I used to play tennis, volleyball, etc, etc.

Dad: She used to ice skate (thanks for remembering my one athletic attempt dad!)

The golf tourney comes back on, so the conversation stalls again (well, I keep talking, but no one is acknowledging me). When the next commercial break comes, I assume we can resume talking about my illness, but instead we talk about the cat and the routine I need to go through when I come over to feed her every day next week while my parents go to Branson. I even had a near throwing up episode once and thought for sure that garner some major concern, but it didn't. I think my parents can see through my hypochondriac tendancies and don't fall for my drama any more. It really takes the fun out of being sick, but fortunately, some of my friends still buy into it and give me lots of sympathy.

Which reminds me, I've had several friends comment that they understand me because I remind them a lot of their husbands when they are sick. I'm pretty sure this is not a compliment, but instead is referring to the fact that husbands (and apparently me) tend to be wimpy when sick and want lots of attention. Maybe that could be a business, someone could start a 24 hour helpline where needy people (me and the husbands) could call in anytime and get lots of sympathy over the phone...

my REAL diagnosis

I went to the doctor today. She said I was not having a heart attack because my blood pressure was fine, although my pulse was a little high (97). She said I should drink more water and it would help lower my pulse because I might be dehydrated. I explained that I could not drink more water becasue I have a bad taste in my mouth all the time from my sinus drainage, so I needed to either chew gum, suck on cough drops, or drink something with flavor, which does not include water. She said to just drink more liquids, even if it wasn't water. Here's the rest of the conversation about my possible heart attack:

ME: What about the pain in my chest?

DOCTOR: It might just be you are sore from all the coughing.

ME: Is that normal? Is it normal to have chest pain from coughing?

DOCTOR: Yes, it's normal.

ME: What about the shortness of breath? I get tired easily, like my heart is not getting enough oxygen.

DOCTOR: Well, shortness of breath doesn't normally come with allergies, but it is normal to be tired because your body is busy fighting the allergens. How about I give you a shot of steriods to help?

ME: But what about my heart?

DOCTOR: Your heart is fine.

ME: What about the shortness of breath?

DOCTOR: Let's try the steriod shot and see if that helps all the symtoms and if it doesn't, give me a call at the end of the week.

ME: So you think my heart is okay?

DOCTOR: Your heart is fine.

So, the good news is that I am not having a heart attack. My official diagnosis? A bad case of allergies. I got a steriod shot (I was big girl and did not even hypervenilate like i often do when seeing a needle), some steriod nasal spray (which I most likely will not use because I don't like it) and some singulair. I decided not to bring up the possible diagnosis of acute mountain sickness because I don't want her to think I am more of a hypochondriac than she already does.

My latest internet diagnosis - Acute Mountain sickness

One of my favorite things to do when I don't feel well is to look up all potential illness on the internet and try to diagnosis myself. It's the hypochondriac in me coming out to play. I started two weeks ago with a head cold, which quickly turned to a cough that led to frequent throwing up, and this week (week three) seems to be settling into my lungs and causing tightness in my chest. Today I almost had myself convinced that I might be having a heart attack because if you type in "tightness in chest" into any symptom checker, you get a little freaked out with all the possible heart problems that could be occuring. I called the doctor and made an appointment for Tuesday morning. Hopefully I will live through the night to make it to the appointment.

Tonight I was "researching" on healthline.com where if you type in one symptom, it suggests other possible related symptoms and you can keep clicking on those as it brings up possible causes to your syptoms. The first suggestion of a cause to my chest tightness was chest pain. That was very helpful. As I kept clicking on symptoms (i had a long list, but it's a little hazy on which ones were real and which ones were imagined) until it was narrowed down to only one possible cause for my problems: Acute Mountain Sickness. Of course! This makes perfect sense. I clicked on the illness for more information and found out the definition:

"Acute mountain sickness is an illness that can affect mountain climbers, hikers, skiers, or travelers who climb too fast. It usually occurs when people rapidly reach a high altitude (typically above 8,000 feet or 2,400 meters). "

About three weeks ago I went to Colorado and my friend Tracey and i climbed to the top of Seven Falls (200 plus stairs). I must have caught Acute Mountain Sickness while I was there. I went on to read about treatment:

"The main form of treatment for all forms of mountain sickness is to climb down (descend) to a lower altitude as rapidly and safely as possible. Supplemental oxygen should also be given, if available."

Hmmmm.....I've already climbed down the seven fall stairs. Maybe if I go to my basement, that will help? It's about as low of an altitude as I can get to. Nope, I just walked downstairs and it didn't help. Just made me tired. Maybe this diagnosis is a little off.... If I remove "headache" from my symptoms (this is a real symptom though....it feels like a big clamp is on my head. I think it's a sinus headache most likely related to allergies), then I find that I have emphysema. This could be definitely be it! I had a grandfather who died of emphysema before I was born, so maybe I inherited it! I'll read the definition:

"Emphysema is a lung disease that involves damage to the air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs."

The treatment suggested is to quit smoking. I don't smoke. I'll have to adjust my symptoms again until I find the right disease.

Okay, I think I have it narrowed down. Either I have a heart condition, asthma, allergies, or mental illness. I'll give an update after I go to the doctor tomorrow. I'm pretty sure she is going to say "hypochondriac". Maybe I should save some vomit next time I throw up so I can prove to her that something is wrong.

Kitten update

Here are a couple of photos of the two kittens that I kept, Topher and Willie. I usually just call them the twins or the brothers, becuase it is difficult to tell them apart. I have only come up with three ways to tell them apart:

1. when I feed them in the morning, Willie cries the most and rushes to get to the food before his brother can have any. he doesn't share very well, so now his brother gets his own dish.

2. when I pet their tails, Willie has a slightly thicker tail than Topher. He also weighed more when I took them to the vet recently. But only by a few ounces.

3. When they yawn, Topher has a black spot on the inside of his mouth, on the upper part. Willie has a smaller black spot right by his teeth, but Topher's is a larger circle right in the middle of the top of his mouth.

Katie, the momma cat, is doing well at my parents house. I'll try to get some pictures of her posted soon.

Colorado Springs

What a fun weekend! It was fun to see my Tracey this weekend and visit so many tourist sites around Colorado Springs. I already wrote about my great drive on Friday, so let me pick up with Saturday. We started out the day at the Garden of the Gods, and hiked a couple of the trails, mainly the one up to the Siamese Twins rocks (see picture below).

Then we tried to go to Glen Eyrie, the castle on the grounds of the Navigators campus, but it was closed due to special events they had going on. So instead, we went to a Monastery that Tracey has visited and walked around on their grounds. Here’s a photo of the grounds where they have a cemetery with the stations of the cross on the edges. There were also deer all around, just sitting there watching us.

Then we drove around downtown Colorado Springs, which turned out to be not much to see, although we did a find a Chipotle to eat dinner at. We ended the day with a visit to Seven Falls, a waterfall tourist trap area. The waterfall was pretty, but you had to climb 224 very steep stairs to get the top for the high view. We decided to climb the stairs, which almost did me in. Nothing like a good reminder of how out of shape I am! Here’s a photo of me holding on for dear life on the stairs, and one of Tracey by the falls.

On Sunday we went to church at Woodman Valley Chapel, then over to the Air Force Academy for a quick visit. One of the prettiest sites at the Academy is the chapel and we were surprised to see that there were actual four chapels: the protestant chapel, the catholic chapel, the jewish chapel, and the buddest chapel. I took photos of each one and will put them on my facebook page to save room here, but here’s a photo of the outside of the building that houses them all.

Fun weekend!

Colorado Springs Balloon Classic

This morning I got up before 7:00 am to head downtown (while Tracey slept in) and take photos at the 32nd annual Colorado Springs Balloon Classic. There were over 90 hot air balloons released against the backdrop of the mountains. Beautiful!

I took over 80 photos, which I'll try to post on my facebook page later, but for now, here a few of my favorites. We're headed to church at Woodland Valley Chapel this morning, then maybe the Air Force Academy.