Doonesbury Say What?

"Water-boarding is torture... It's drowning. It gives you the complete sensation that you are drowning. It is no good, because you -- I'll put it to you this way; you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders."
-- Former Governor Jesse Ventura, an ex-Seal who endured waterboarding as part of his training

Russet said there are descriptions, or maybe photos, of people who endured water-boarding at the hands of the Khmer Rouge who broke bones in the hands and feet trying to get free of it. NPR interviewed a military interrogator who went in with his copy of the Quran and read passages and asked questions of his detainees and got actionable intelligence that resulted in the capture of high-level AQ operatives.

How was your week, honey?

This was last week for me:

I wasn't feeling 100% Sunday night, but I wasn't really feeling ill, I was on Monday morning. I called in sick to work and kept an 11:30 appointment for a lung function study. I was running a fever between 100 and 101, my blood pressure was slightly elevated and my pulse was running 120: this was pretty constant until Thursday afternoon.

I was able to successfully complete the lung function series of tests, which was kind of remarkable. I was also told that my lung doctor was not in.

Tuesday we went to my primary doctor. He ordered taking the rest of the week off, along with a fistful of tests: CBC, an instant flu test, and two other blood tests including one that looks more specifically at my T-cells and other immune aspects. He told me to go see my lung doctor again. We decided that lung x-rays at this time were not called for as there didn't sound like much crud in my lungs and I didn't have a high enough temperature to really indicate pneumonia. Plus, I've already had eight chest x-rays since late February this year.

We go to the lab and get blood drawn and swabs up my nose. The instant flu test was negative, which was expected. The CBC showed an infection, the other two we don't have results for yet. While there, I call my lung doctor. He wasn't off just Monday: he's off for two weeks. He didn't bother telling me this when I saw him for the first time the previous Friday. And the doctor covering the practice can't or won't see me. And they're about the only game in town.

Wednesday my doctor orders a sputum (lung crud) culture, we talk him in to also adding a test for Valley Fever. Unfortunately we don't make it to the lab before they close. Double unfortunately, it delayed me starting an antibiotic because we needed the culture.

Thursday morning, first thing, we go to the lab. They took me in a wheelchair from admitting back to the respiratory lab: I could walk, but VERY slowly. Honestly, I don't know if I could have walked the distance. When we got to the lab, I sat in a chair hunched over, holding my head up with my hands. It took two nebulizer treatments, one of saline and one of sterile water, before my lungs were working sufficiently that I coughed up a sufficient sample for the culture. But because of the treatment, I was able to walk out of the lab and out to the car and at a decent pace.

Thursday afternoon my wife came out of the bedroom, I was on the couch, and I hadn't really noticed that my temperature was spiking. It was over 103, we don't accurately know what it was as we don't have a clinical-grade thermometer and we know it reads a little low. We put ice bags on the back of my neck and on my forehead/crown, and in an hour, my temperature was back to about 100.

Late Thursday night, my temperature finally dropped below 100 and my pulse and BP started coming down. So that was four days of fever, high pulse and increased BP.

Friday was a good day, relatively-speaking. Temperature is back to normal, as are pulse/BP. Very weak. Late Friday night we went for a short walk along the perimeter of a green area at my apartment, maybe 150 yards. I was able to do it unassisted, at a very slow pace, and wasn't good for much afterwards. My wife was following me with the poodle the whole time, I'm not stupid enough to try it without someone there.

Saturday, so far, is OK. Temperature/pulse/BP are good. Still very weak. But being able to hold conversations with long sentences, i.e. BREATH, is good. Spending the day on the couch sleeping, reading, watching movies.

Some time next week we should have the results of the two other blood tests. My primary doctor made arrangements for me to see someone else as he'll be out next week, then I'll see him the following week. I don't know when we'll have the sputum/Valley Fever tests back, late next week or early the following. And we'll go from there.

So there you have it. I obviously have a severe respiratory condition going on, and I think we're on the right track to get it taken care of, but it's going to take some time.


WHEEEEE!