A Hellish Weekend... Not Much Better Today

I had been very slowly recovering from my long-lingering COVID symptoms but things drastically worsened again this past weekend.

We had about 13 inches of snow Friday night into Saturday so we had to head outside to at least clear off the roof especially since the snow wasn't supposed to stop falling for another 12 hours or so.  We didn't need a collapsed roof on top of all my health problems so we headed outside for a painful couple of hours.  It turns out we had another three inches of snow through the night on Saturday night after we cleared off the roof so it is good that we took care of the roof when we did.

I started up the snowblower and made my way toward the driveway.  I had just broken through the deep snow with one slowblower-width path when it started making a terrible noise.  I noticed that one of the four augers was no longer held in place with its pin.  Fortunately, I had two spares on the control panel of the snowblower so that was a quick fix.  I started up the auger again and the horrible noise started up again.  I don't know what is wrong with it exactly but I do know that it is now hard broken and unusable.  It seems as though some part of the transmission and/or auger drive is broken.  It is making a horrendous sound whenever I engage the auger.  There is a differential at the auger and I fear it may be a failure there.  At this point in the winter...  Ha...  I guess it is spring now...  at this point in the spring, I won't be fixing this until sometime in the summer.

Since the snowblower is now toast, we ended up clearing the driveway with shovels.  The snow down there in the driveway was hip deep so I knew this was going to hurt my spinal injuries as well as my lingering long-COVID inflammation in my joints.  It had to be done though.  

Simply using the snowblower when it is working as it should is quite painful for my spinal injuries.  Pushing and pulling snow off the roof is even more painful.  Clearing the end of the driveway with only shovels so we could get the car out, if necessary, was going to be even more painful. 

When I started up the ladder to get to the roof, I completely forgot about the problems I've been having with my right leg in recent months.  I've had great difficulty walking and I had no strength in my right leg but things were improving in recent days so I didn't think about potential problems getting up and down a ladder.  My leg hadn't be buckling out from under me in the preceding days so I wasn't constantly reminded of this problem.  It was still quite weak but I had been improving.

When I attempted to put my weight on my right leg while at the second rung of the ladder, my leg buckled under me and I slid down the ladder like Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation.  Chevy Chase slid down the entire length of the ladder but my two foot fall felt like I had slid down the entire length of the ladder.  It was a bit painful and also resulted in a scraped shin.  

After that little fall, I carefully stepped up the ladder one leg at a time and only using the strength of my left leg to step up to each rung.  That got me up to the roof but I was skeptical that getting down off the roof would be just as easy.  It turns out that stepping off the roof onto the ladder was a bit more challenging but I managed to get back down to the ground without sliding down the ladder again.  

The inflammation due to all this heavy lifting and activity didn't hit me until later in the day on Sunday, the following day.  This pain was a bit different than what I had been experiencing for the past few months due to the long-COVID inflammation.  This pain was centered on the right side of my groin and testicles like I had been kicked in the nuts.  Previously this pain had been centered on the right side of my pelvis.  This time it felt like I was kicked in the nuts and it was constant, relentless, and nauseating.  Walking was again quite difficult.

Monday, I started noticing that my right knee is painful too.  It was reminding me of the summer of long-COVID when I was on crutches due to inflammation in that knee and significant swelling.  So far, however, I haven't had to resort to crutches.  My cane is working well enough when necessary.

Today (Tuesday), the pain has subsided a bit but I'm getting sharp pains like a big needle is being injected into the area around my right hip.  It seems like the pain is moving back toward where it had originally started a couple of months ago centered around the right side of my pelvis where I had my last bone marrow biopsy 12 months ago.  

Now, to make matters worse, my mast cells aren't all that happy either which, honestly, comes as no surprise.  Inflammation causes mast cells to become more active as they respond to the inflammation and I already have a problem with overactive mast cells.  Unfortunately, this type of mast cell problem causes anaphylaxis and that is what I am experiencing this morning.  

This developed as weakness and sparkles in my eyes...  mostly my right eye, oddly enough (same side as my weakened leg and inflamed knee).  I'm a bit lightheaded too.  

I've already used epinephrine twice...   took some extra H1 blockers...  took some extra mast cell stabilizers...  and now, after about an hour, I'm feeling a little more stable but I am still feeling as though I'm in a dangerous place.  My right eye is still a bit sparkly and I'm still feeling a bit lightheaded.  When I have some lunch, I think I'll throw my emergency medications at this problem again.  I definitely don't want my health to worsen into anaphylaxis again.  

Also related to my Systemic Mastocytosis, I've had more difficulties breathing through the night which has kept me awake most of the night.  This is also a sign of a larger mast cell burden so I've been throwing more medications at that too.  I have two different types of inhalers which have been somewhat effective but I breathing is still a bit problematic to interrupt my sleep. 

This breathing thing isn't strictly associated with my mast cell disease.  I think it is also more lingering symptoms of COVID.  I awake with my mouth and throat coated in thick phlegm...  for the past three months.  I'm still coughing and coughing up phlegm.  I'm doing some breathing exercises to move some of this phlegm along and that seems to be effective so things could be worse.  

I guess what is frustrating is this myriad of symptoms all occurring at the same time.  Well, the other frustrating problem is how the COVID symptoms are lingering for many months.  And, having great difficulty breathing...   not so fun.

After all the medications I've thrown at my health this morning, I'm sure I will sleep through the entire afternoon.  These emergency medication make me quite drowsy so  that is normal.  Hopefully I'll feel a bit more stable when I awaken.

EDIT:  I did sleep through the afternoon and I awoke incredibly drowsy ready to fall back asleep.  Unfortunately, I needed the bathroom and we have one of the grandchildren coming over this evening for her birthday presents.  I am in no condition for that but...  I'll survive.