Taking a deep(er) breath

Saturday evening and Sunday required a healthy dose of expletives, I'll be the first to admit.  The peaks of pain from my right lung weren't as high as the 24 hours previous, but for sure, they weren't far behind.  There were periods without pain, where I could lay down and sleep, but those rarely lasted more than about 90 minutes.

Granted, I had avoided the narcotic Oxycodone as my pain med, partly because of how it makes me feel (not like myself), and partly because I didn't need more of a departure from normal digestion (one of its side effects). I relied instead on Tylenol and Tramadol.

I was ready to start Oxycodone Sunday night, but a funny thing happened. Overnight I could lay down (on my left side only), and breathe, without pain. And I could easily fall asleep. Although I was up every 2 to 3 hours, I could always return to laying down and sleeping shortly after.

As you can gather, the days previous were not comfortable. While I could always get reprieve by standing, the need was far too frequent. And while I wasn't doing anything that required more than shallow breathing, I knew that deeper breaths were important to avoiding pneumonia, something to which, for the moment, I'm more susceptible.

Today was entirely different. Alli said it first, just watching me come into the kitchen to write a note while on the phone with Dr Ringel. I was clearly feeling better.

It sure helped that Ann Marie and kids were taking care of things at home, and my teammates doing the same at work. It let me rest and take care of myself.

I'll post later about my appointment at Hopkins today, and the next one scheduled for Monday. As for now,  I'm going to take advantage of the remaining sunlight :-)