I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

To treat the fungus they routed out of my nose as last Wednesday turned into Thursday, I am taking a couple of antifungal medications. At least one of them works by poking holes in the fungal cell walls.

Unfortunately, a side effect is that it also does the same thing to some cells in the kidney, causing me to shed potassium.

To treat the loss of potassium, I am taking a lot of intravenous potassium and also a diuretic that helps the body hang on to potassium.

Unfortunately, a potential side effect of the diuretic is that it could cause me to develop breasts.

I'm not sure what they'll give me to treat that side effect, but I'm sure it will have its own interesting side effects.

On the other hand, having breasts would open up some new career options: bearded lady, drag queen.

= = =

I am now in my sixth day of having my nose packed with stuff, which means sleep remains difficult to come by. Sunday night, I got an Ambien, and that helped. I still had to wake up every hour to pee, because I'm having drugs dripped into me all the time, plus liquids to make me pee. My nose is still bleeding, and I'm still hacking up bloody mucus, both of which are disgusting, but still better than peeing blood, which I have not done for a while. Hooray for small victories!

Last night, I was ready for my Ambien again. However, I had a fever, which meant more tests, including a chest x-ray, so they didn't want to give me a sleeping pill until after the x-ray. Which didn't happen until 4:00 a.m., due to emergencies that took priority. While it was disappointing to have my night ruined even more than usual, I'd rather be the non-emergency patient.

I did not pass out during the x-ray — another small victory. Sort of. I cheated by taking the x-ray while sitting on a stool.

Later today I should get a lot of information: biopsy results and a treatment plan. Until then, I just try to catch up on sleep.