Thursday, September 27, 2007

Holding my breath

My son had to go to the doctor the other day. He's got this cough that just won't quit after getting a viral infection 10 days ago. Since he's got asthma, I decided to err on the side of caution and take him to get checked out. Turns out he's got an infection in both ears and had to start on antibiotics.

As we were driving home from the doctor's office I noticed that my throat felt hot and like it was scratched or something. I haven't been sick with a head cold in so many years that I didn't recognize the initial symptoms. By midnight there was no ignoring the symptoms, however. My throat felt like someone had poured acid on it and then rubbed it with sandpaper. I couldn't drink, breathe or swallow without major pain.

Since I never really asked the study nurse about possible drug interactions and the only thing we talked about was taking tylenol or advil, I wasn't sure if I could take over the counter head cold medicine. I toughed it out until morning when I put in a call to the MS clinic.

Turns out the only thing they don't want me to take is another disease modifying drug for MS or heart medicine that might be prescribed by my primary care doctor. They want to know about stuff like that.

So I took some Benadryl and slept all day yesterday. Even though I am feeling quite a bit better today, I'm holding my breath...waiting for the other shoe to drop.

In the past, it seems like every little thing that happened to me ended up sparking a relapse and landing me in the hospital. Something as simple as a bout of constipation once earned me a 3 day trip to the hospital with a bonus 2 months of recuperation.

So now the real test of whether or not the Fingolimod is doing it's job will be if I can make it through this viral infection and come through it unscathed and feeling normal. So far so good...but I'm holding my breath.