I’ve officially decided to make Dave’s POZ blog a platform to bitch, not that I haven’t used my blog to vent before.  I’m always pretending with my friends, "Oh, its okay I was just homebound hooked up to an IV for almost three weeks having antibiotics pumped into me for a sinus infection/ pneumonia/ bronchitis but I’ll fine now.  It’s all good!"

It was actually quite hellish.  The infection had gone on for almost a year, I thought I was suffering from year round allergies and I wrote it off.  November of 2008 I was coughing up monstrous lugies in the shower (sexy!) and after a visit to the rheumatologist I discovered I had broken a few ribs from hacking (no wonder I was having trouble doing Pilates.)  My internist/HIV/AIDS doc was hesitant about prescribing Levaquin (my antibiotic of choice) for the sinus infection.  In the past Levaquin had rapidly decreased my T-cell count and you know how my doc feels about that!  After spending a few months going to physical therapy to heal my ribs I made an appointment to see my ear, nose & throat specialist (I previously had my deviated septum corrected ten years ago.)  OMG he was crazed after examining my head x-rays, and insisted on surgery immediately.  The operation was a success but only for a while.  Also, I was on 100mg of Doxycycline (a pretty strong antibiotic) for two weeks to stamp out any other infection lurking in my body.  This drug did absolutely nothing for me, it was like I was taking vitamins, and in fact it made my infection worse.  I’m guessing I broke a few more ribs in the process of coughing because the pain became unbearable.  Damn, I had MRSA and the only antidote was intravenous Vancomycin, the queen bee of antibiotics!  This drug was super expensive over $1000 a drip bag.  Luckily I only had to pay 5% but after all was said and done I ended up shelling out over $600.  Plus the added inconvenience of the PICC line insertion, making showering a whole production of wrapping my arm in gauze and Saran Wrap, frequent visits from the nurse, the blood test guy coming at 6am (that’s the middle of the night for me) delivering at my apartment at 10pm from the pharmacy and that damn IV pole screwing up my feng shui!

After the PICC came out and the treatment was over, I felt great.  My sputum was clear, not green or brown, and I wasn’t coughing up afterbirth or breaking anymore ribs.  I started going to the gym working on my healing ribs and having more energy to give my apartment a much needed cleansing. This lasted only a week.  The coughing returned, the sputum got heavier and yellow and I was back to sleeping half the day away.  Tomorrow I return to the pulmonologist for a CT scan of my lungs.  I’m assuming it won’t be lookin’ good down there.