Two Topics

ONE: Meeting my New Doc

I met my new doc for the first time yesterday and I ((HEART)) her! She is this gorgeous Nigerian-American woman with this slight and lilting accent--one of those people that you just automatically adore the minute you see her. She is SO calm and just beautiful--one of those people you can tell is beautiful inside and out!

So I liked her right away. She was sweet to james and so gentle to me.

She listened to my sordid past--haven't had a real doc for over a year (and sketchy contact with my previous one, who I never loved, in the years before that), using my husband's prescriptions (albuteral inhaler and adderall for ADHD), and didn't judge me or say much at all really!

And the verdict is--ear infection! She asked if I was nursing him (yep--I was nursing him when she walked in the office, guess she didn't even notice, haha), and then said I could take amoxicillan. I told her that I wasn't a huge fan of antibiotics and asked if it would go away on its own.
"Maybe," was her simple answer, with no comment about my opinion either way. I thought for a second and said:
"Well, why don't you give me the prescription and if I think I really need it I will fill it."
"Okay," she said. Again simple, quiet, gentle.

She left the room in the same manner, with a warm: "Very nice to meet you," which I honestly returned!

So that was my appt!

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TWO: Dealing with an Ear Infection sans Antibiotics (Part One)

So last night for the first time my ear actually ached instead of just feeling swollen and pressure in my sinuses and glands.

(Sorry if I neglected to ever write about the fact that I was sick, for those who don't follow me on FB--I guess it inspired all this health talk, haha. Basically I got a virus--fever, coughing, and serious fluid in my lungs as is typical for asthmatic me. Okay fine. But then it turned into an ear infection. My first one in probably ten years--WTH?).

Anyway, I decided that if I was going to avoid antibiotics, I needed to ramp my natural cures into gear. So last night I took a steamy shower, did the Neti pot (God I should have been doing it all along it was SO effective), and then had James put breast milk in both my ears (just in case, though only the left was infected--I'll have to write another post about the awesome and amazing cure-all that breast milk is). And I continued to take Mucinex and my asthma inhaler, as I've been doing (otherwise I would have needed antibiotics!), and I woke up this morning feeling better. Not aching anymore, so that's progress. I'm going to do the Netipot again today at least twice and also do the breast milk in ears again before bed.

Wish me luck on being able to beat this! I'll talk about the importance of avoiding antibiotics (when possible) tomorrow afternoon!

The Next Morning

The morning after our awesome dinner--this morning--I woke up ACTUALLY sick. Apparently all the cooking, arguing and busy-ness took its toll on me, and my immune system finally crapped out.

I hacked up disgusting phelgm into tissues for awhile and reported back to the couch. I guess my stupor was all for a good reason!

Should this have just been part of the previous post? Maybe. Maybe. For some reason it seemed like it needed it's own post, though. I'll blame it on the stupor.

Now I want to eat some Tagine.