Southern Germs

I don't know what it is about my sister Sharon's kids, but they always make me sick! It seems like so often I get a cold after they've visited which is interesting since I've never gotten sick from any of my other nieces and nephews. Sharon and I have jokingly chalked it up to her family's "southern germs" (they live in Mississippi).

Getting a cold is especially dangerous for me since I have an open airway (meaning, I have a trach, which is a direct opening to the airway/lungs) and I'm more susceptible to developing pneumonia, which is actually the leading cause of death for quadriplegics. But since I've been through this (getting a cold) a time or two before I knew I needed to call my doctor and have her call in a prescription for me. She did and I started feeling better a few days after starting the antibiotics she prescribed. I didn't get as sick this time as they have in the past, but that's probably because I knew where things were headed so I "nipped things in the bud" by starting antibiotics sooner than later.

[Here's a funny and ironic story. I'd just been to my doctor on December 20 for a med check, and I told her that my sister and her kids (the ones that always make me sick) were coming for Christmas. I half jokingly told my doctor that I'd be calling her soon to get a prescription for an antibiotic, and sure enough exactly one week later I'd developed a chest cold, just as I predicted I would, and I asked my mom to call my doctor. Did I call that correctly or what?!]

I'm glad to be feeling better again and breathing easier!