Doctor’s Orders to Swim in the Ocean!

I was up most of the night coughing last night. I was miserable! This happens to me most years anymore, usually in February! After being sick, I get this horrible cough that just won’t go away! I cough over and over and just can’t stop. Cough syrups don’t help at all. The kinds that have hydrocodone or codeine in them (which totally knock most people out) make me hyper and then there’s no chance of sleep at all! Last night I couldn’t sleep so got up and read on the couch. I finally thought I could sleep, lasted about 10 minutes in bed coughing and got back up to read and suck on cough drops again. This morning around 8:45 I had finally stopped coughing and was so tired, so went to bed and slept from 9:00 – 11:00. Once I got up, I tried looking up suggestions online but found nothing that would help. I had been taking lots of OTC meds and they weren’t helping. I told Phillip I was going to go the doctor Monday if not better. Then I asked him if he thought they’d be open today by any chance? He had paperwork about the doctor in his school files and found that they were open till noon! So I brushed my teeth and left! (Again, thank goodness for a car that starts!) The doctor everyone recommends is in Maho, only about 5 minutes away. Nice! He sees patients for $25 cash, no insurance needed and is very good to AUC students and spouses. When I walked up to the desk and told the lady I hadn’t been here before, she handed me a little scrap of paper and asked me to write down my name, address, and phone number. That was it! No forms to fill out! Hilarious! There were 4 people ahead of me, but he only spends a few minutes with each patient. As soon as one patient walks out, the next can go in. Everyone waits in one little waiting room and you just go in the order that you get there. No time spent with a nurse, no checking temp, blood pressure, weight, etc. So it goes pretty quickly. I explained everything to him and how usually some shot is the only thing that helps me. He said they didn’t have that, but that he knew what should do the trick. He used the stethoscope to listen to my breathing and then wrote a prescription for 2 meds (Klaricid XL and Prednisolone) and told me that swimming in the ocean would help me also! Nice! Gotta love salt water! I paid my $25 and off I went.

There’s a pharmacy approximately half a block away, so I walked there, thinking how fast this whole process was going! WRONG! I got to the pharmacy, only to find out that they’re out of the meds. The guy said he’s waiting for a shipment. He could give me a day and a half of the meds (by the way, I don’t know how that works since I only take them once daily…) but that was it. Well that really wouldn’t be helpful, so I left and drove to the Pharmacy in Simpson Bay. Luckily, they had my meds!!! Maybe they’re really strong ones, because the pharmacist took one look at them and said “Wow you should be feeling better fast!” I sure hope she’s right! The meds cost $47. Not bad really…

I came home, ate a quick lunch, downed my meds, and changed for the beach! By the way, one of the medicines is disgusting. I have to dissolve it in half a glass of water, then drink it. EEEWWW! The beach was fun though of course! We played with a tennis ball in the water for awhile and then I just floated in the waves. I love doing that! After about an hour and a half of that, we came home and I finished reading my book while Phillip studied.

Tonight we went to see a movie on campus. Every Friday and Saturday night, they show a movie (for free!!!) for the students and spouses. What a great idea! This was the first one we’ve really wanted to see though. Hope the choices get better from now on! We watched Eagle Eye. It was really good! I ate a lot of cough drops to keep me from coughing during the movie!!! Thank goodness, Tara had left a huge bag of cough drops in the trunk of the car with all the other goodies! Awesome, because the ones I brought didn’t last long!

I was planning to email Heather tonight because she has more Janet Evanovich books and said I could borrow them. I just finished reading one of her books, One for the Money, and it was really good. When we got home from the movie, I had a missed call from her, so called her back. She was calling to see if I was ready for the books! Nice! She must be psychic!!! So she met me outside (she lives next door) with a pile of 7 Janet Evanovich books for me to borrow! Sweet! I know what I’ll be doing for awhile!! She is so sweet! She’s making sure I’m ok while I’m sick…even called the other day just to see if I needed anything! Thank goodness for friends!!!!! :-)