I hope that today you find yourself with those you love, that you feel blessed, rich in spirit, and that you carry hope and charity in your heart.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Until next time,

Mark

Wow, it has been quite a while since my last entry. I thought I may never make it to another entry. It all started on Saturday, October 16, 2010. My beloved Nebraska Cornhuskers had lost to Texas earlier in the day and I was pretty bummed about it.

That night, I started to feel like a cold was coming on. A bit of congestion, perhaps a sore throat, some sneezing. Went to bed and woke next morning with a sore throat. Didn’t pay it much mind as I am always getting Post Nasal Drip, or as the medical profession refers to it, Sinusitis. Used my Neti pot to flush my sinuses a few times on Sunday and before going to sleep. Awoke Monday feeling worse. Repeated Neti pot treatments and went to bed. Awoke Tuesday feeling even worse. This continued for several days.

As my entry on 10/22 states, I should have listened to my wife and gone to the doctor when she first suggested it. Why don’t we go to the doctor when our health starts going downhill? It isn’t a manly thing as I will show a little further in my entry. Is it because we want to be in control and when someone suggests we go to the doctor, we feel like others are trying to control us? Is it a pride thing? Is it because we don’t actually know how sick we are, but those around us hearing us cough, blow our nose, and complain actually do know how sick we are? I don’t have an answer.

Moving along in my story. I finally went to doctor. Diagnosed with upper respiratory infection and sinus infection. Started taking antibiotics and Nyquil. Kinda maybe sort of felt I was almost feeling better when the heavy coughing started. Several nights of no sleep, just coughing and wondering if I had Pneumonia. After 6 days of this, went back to doctor.

Stethoscope reveals wheezing and gravelly lung sounds. X-ray reveals a good amount of crud in my right lung. I am diagnosed with a severe case of Pneumonia. Here, have a nebulizer treatment of Albuterol while you wait. Oh and by the way, the antibiotic you were taking, stop taking it. It really wasn’t strong enough and really didn’t help. Have some of this amazing antibiotic that will do wonders for you in 5 days. In addition, please use this inhaler twice a day until we see you back in a week. And to help you sleep, have a bottle of this cough syrup with codeine. It helped me sleep alright. Knocked me out.

While all this was going on, my Mother came to visit for a week. She arrived, I mumbled hello to her and headed up to bed. Probably spent a grand total of 5 minutes with her while she was visiting. Felt even worse knowing she had spent good money to visit and I barely saw her. She headed home and I prayed she didn’t get my sickness. My prayers were ignored. She came down with what she referred to as a severe chest cold. When I spoke to her on phone, she sounded like she was on her death bed. “Go to the doctor, Mom”, I said. “Oh, I think I have seen the worst of it and am getting better”, she uttered trying to convince me and possibly herself. I told you not going to the doc was not men trying to be manly. Ladies do it too.

She finally went to doctor and… She had Pneumonia also. Apologized profusely for getting her sick. She says she could have gotten it on one the planes she flew on, or in one of the airports, or almost anywhere. Amazing the lengths she went to to try and blame anyone or anything other than me.  I guess that’s Mom being a Mom. We all know she got sick because of me. She’s doing better and lost about 7 or 8 pounds.

I was thinking of going on Biggest Loser to help me lose a few pounds, but didn’t need to after losing 23 pounds while sick. Had no appetite at all and didn’t take in the usual amounts of water and other liquids I usually do. I can’t begin to share how weak and tired I was. My right rib cage ached from all the coughing. My back was sore. I really did a number on myself.

Through all of this, I again prayed that I wouldn’t get my wife or daughter sick. Almost made it. My dear wife started coughing, but she went right to the doctor when this started. With me having Pneumonia and my Mom, the doc didn’t mess around. My wife was put on some pretty heavy duty antibiotic immediately. It worked well. No Pneumonia.

I am just now getting back with clients to schedule initial meetings and setting up photo sessions. Thankfully, I have not had one cancellation. I tried to keep everyone informed as to what was going on. Many understanding people live in and around Omaha. I thank all of you who waited and didn’t go with someone else to handle your photography needs. I will make it worth the wait. I promise.

Until next time,

Mark