Rudy felt horribly fatigued when I left this morning, but when I returned around lunchtime felt a tiny bit improved.
He went out on our porch for some fresh air and there were bit and pieces of a sofa that we have been trying to get over to the dump. Foam and fabric was all over thanks to our pack of very mischievous dogs. Naturally, none of them accepted responsibility.
Earlier in the day, Nancy and Mike had called to see if this was a good day to help cart the sofa away. Rudy had said no because he felt so bad. Once he saw the foam all over, he told me to call them back.
Mike helped Nancy and I load everything, then Nancy and I took a truck load of stuff to the landfill. Our porch no longer looks like it belongs to the Senoia Hillbillies.
When I got back from the landfill, Rudy was feeling a good bit worse... fatigued, achy, slightly nauseous, and running a fever - around 100.2.
Terri from CTCA had called with the latest Hepatitis blood test. The C is still dormant, but the B is running wild. I wish I had been there for that call.
I have read a tiny bit about Hepatitis B and it looks like there's not much to help ease the symptoms. I found this article which gives 7 tips. Most of the tips are similar to what someone with the flu might be advised to do.
Every time I read I keep coming across conflicting info about how rare it is for someone to get a Hep virus from a transfusion. Many stats are incredibly low. What the heck is going on? The acute infection comes on after first being exposed, so this is recent. It pretty much has to be from something medical. He hasn't exactly been partying these last 6 months.
Here are a few more quick facts from a CDC article -
- Symptoms begin an average of 90 days (range: 60–150 days) after exposure to HBV.
- Symptoms typically last for several weeks but can persist for up to 6 months.
- For acute infection, no medication is available; treatment is supportive.
- [Acute HBV] will be detected in an infected person’s blood an average of 4 weeks (range: 1–9 weeks) after exposure to the virus. About 1 of 2 patients will no longer be infectious by 7 weeks after onset of symptoms, and all patients who do not remain chronically infected will be HBsAg-negative by 15 weeks after onset of symptoms.
Everything I learn leads to more questions. I'm tired of learning about medical stuff. I think I'd rather learn about hang gliding. I'm afraid of heights, but that would be less scary than all this mess!
