Grandma Henke

It is 2:00 in the morning and I am not sleeping nor does it look like I will.   Why?  Because my brain said so.  That can’t be right now, because if I had half a brain I’d be in bed asleep.

I had a school teacher who used to say that to us all the time, “If you had a half a brain … you’d have figured it out.”   Well, duh … if I had a whole brain then I wouldn’t have even needed a teacher now, would I?    

I tell you what, the medical world is beyond my understanding.   Two weeks ago I was in my 2nd week of not being able to get enough air because of chest congestion … I also had a sinus infection.    So since I’m in charge of the family reunion THIS Saturday I decided I couldn’t afford not to go to the doctor.    I couldn’t get an appointment with my regular doctor so I went to the community clinic and the doctor there, who doesn’t know me, gave me an antibiotic for the infection around my lungs and in my sinuses. Two days later I started thinking life is good.

Three days later my arms and legs were aching a lot and I figured my fibromyalgia had flared up because I was sick … and I didn’t want to move for the next two days but kept taking my medication.   The night of the sixth day I couldn’t get out of bed because my knees were so sore and swollen I couldn’t bend them or put any weight on them.   My fingers were so stiff and painful they were starting to curve like claws.    

As I was about to slip the 7th antibiotic caplet into my mouth I finally put 2 and 2 together …  and wondered if my antibiotic, Levaquin,  was causing all this pain.   There wasn’t anything in the little paper that came with it that would indicate it would but I looked it up on the Internet anyway.    HOLY COW!    It can cause severe tendonitis, snapped tendons, or ruptured tendons  in some people.    Of course, I would be that “some people”.

I’m angry there wasn’t a warning on the label, but more angry with myself for not checking it out before I took it.   I would never have taken this medicine had I known it can cause such havoc on tendons and ligaments … I already have sore tendons and ligaments!  

A total of 10 days have passed since I went to the clinic and my fingers, obviously, are working again, albeit a little stiffly. and my shoulders don’t hurt too much.    My knees aren’t throbbing and keeping me awake nights now (what am I talking about, I’m not asleep am I?) but it is very painful to walk and I have to be very careful not to twist them at all when I do.    I will be fine in time, but I haven’t been able to do the final preparations for the reunion like I wanted to, and it won’t be easy getting around at it.    I am grateful, though, that I caught it when I did.   It could be much worse.

Don’t be a dummy like I was!    Read up online about new prescriptions … don’t trust the manufacturer’s label.