Wonderful Wednesday? Close, but not quite...

The girlies are still sick. Of course, you're saying. I agree. It's been a nasty coughing bug, but I think maybe Doodle is showing some improvement this morning. She's significantly more obnoxious today than she was yesterday, which I totally consider a good sign! I didn't wake anybody up to take medicine in the night last night, so that's progress. I did get up with Doodle at around midnight because she was coughing. She stayed asleep, though, so that was good. I think with all that steam in her room she got hot, so she spent the rest of the night without her pajama pants or socks. She woke up this morning and wasn't quite sure what had happened to them! On the plus side, though, she never made another peep all night. Meme spent the night in Hanny's room because we were worried she might end up croupy in the night, but she slept good too. Hopefully we're headed in the right direction. Hopefully we can make it through without a doctor visit. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I had my visit with the ENT yesterday with what I think has turned out to be phenomenal results - so far, anyway. On the positive side, he said my ears actually look great. His diagnosis, and I really think he's got the answer here, is that I have carotidynia. Yeah, it's a new word for me too. My sister the nurse had never heard of it either. I'm beginning to feel like a medical educational tool. Carotidynia is apparently an inflammation of the walls of the carotid artery. There appears to be no specific cause - some studies show it to follow upper respiratory infections, some indicate that it's viral in nature - and it primarily strikes women between the ages of 25-55. The treatment is (for me, anyway) a high-dose, 9-day round of steroids that will be weaned over the 9 days. By last night I was already noticing a difference in the pain up the back of my head. I haven't had to take any pain meds or muscle relaxants since yesterday morning. I really think this is the answer. According to the study I read, all the patients in the study who were treated with high-dose steroids were showing improvement within 24 hours and were totally pain free by the third day. I'm hoping for that! That's my latest. Hopefully that will be my only for a few months, at least.

We're taking it easy around here this morning. Maybe by the weekend we'll be back to normal for a few days!