Not a shaving update, but just an update on myself. I've kind of been out of it for a while, and have been very light on the forum as of late.
The last few days of my Iceland trip I had developed a cough. I thought it may have been due to the weather changing and having more rain during that last week. The cough continued after I got back, but I didn't think much of it, and figured it would go away on its own. It persisted and started to get a bit worse, but not too bad. 6 months a go, I had a similar cough, but with some other small symptoms that the doctors couldn't do anything about, and lasted a couple of months, so I thought maybe that had come back. The cough was getting to the point where my abs were hurting and I was having to hold my stomach when I coughed.
Two weekends ago, I woke up Sunday morning, had one cough and doubled over in pain from my rib area. This happened two more times and I couldn't take it. You know when they ask you what your pain level is from 1-10? Well this was a 10! The worst pain I have ever felt. I thought I had a cracked rib. We went to the ER and they did an X-ray, which was negative. I had apparently been coughing the entire night in my sleep, and they said I either damaged the muscle or the cartilage between my ribs. After a bit of talking they assumed that my cough was a side effect from my blood pressure medication (Lisinopril). I had been on it for 2 months, and the cough developed after about a month. They said this is a common and well known side effect from this drug, but I didn't remember my PA saying anything about it when she prescribed it to me. If she did, I forgot, especially since I didn't have it right away after starting the medication.
So,, they took me off the Lisinopril and put me on something else, but said that just like the onset of the cough was delayed, the cough could take 1-4 weeks to go away completely. So I took that week off work, and just stayed in bed all week to recover. Every single cough I had I just dreaded and I had to learn new ways of clearing the congestion without coughing. I'm finally back to work this week, and the coughing has slowly subsided. I'm only getting up about 3-4 times a night now, as opposed to getting up every 30-40 minutes a week ago. And my ribs have healed enough that I can get away with a few small coughs, but sometimes when I'm clearing my throat it brings on an involuntary cough that still hurts quite a bit. But all in all, I feel better, but still sore.
We went to the Renaissance Faire in Kansas City on Sunday and it was the first time I'd been out of the house in a week, except to go to the Doctor. We had a good time, enjoyed some mead and Turkey legs, but couldn't locate Scotch eggs. That's ok, because my scotch eggs are better anyway.