We are living on a farm north of Dargaville, in a district known as Mamaranui. We are house-sitting (or farm-sitting) for the owners, who are in the South Island for work. We came here on 4 October, and will be here until 2 December. We are enjoying the stay here very much. It is a comfortable home, and I just love the farm!
I had a sore throat the weekend before last. I bought some throat spray, and used that. The soreness went away, but then I had a cough, and pain in the lungs. I bought some LemSip syrup, and that seemed to help for the chest. After about 2 days, it was better.
Saturday I started feeling soreness in the throat again, and by Sunday, it was severe. Food had no taste, and, of course, I cannot smell either. I sprayed my throat on Sunday evening, hoping that it would improve overnight.
I woke up with a very sore throat, and felt pretty miserable. I decided to go to town and see a doctor. I phoned the Dargaville Medical Centre, and they informed me that there is only one doctor there today, but I could come in and wait, as they do have a walk-in medical facility. I showered, and left. Alida stayed at home.
I reported to the counter, where the lady had me fill in the necessary forms, and soon after the screening nurse called me over. She had a look at my throat, and took me directly to see the doctor. The doctor lady had a look, and decided to give me Amoxicillin antibiotics to cure the throat. She also gave me Paracetamol for the pain. I went to the pharmacy to get the drugs. I also bought pies from the pie shop, and a bottle of water. I took the Amoxicillin and Paracetamol in the car before I drove out of town.
At home, I was not feeling too great, so I took the car to the shed where the chickens are kept. While there, I started feeling worse, and decided to return home as soon as possible. I parked the car outside, instead of in the garage, just in case I had to go back to hospital.
As I came into the house, I started feeling really bad. I went into the lounge, where Alida was busy with needlework, and plopped into a chair. She asked if I was alright, I told her I was feeling really bad. Then I started feeling nauseas, and got up to go to the bathroom. As always, it is too late, but luckily I had not eaten or had anything to drink since the previous evening, so I made it to the toilet bowl before anything came out.
It was a horrible experience! I retched and retched, but very little came out. I could not see properly, everything was white, and very bright! Alida asked what she could do, I asked her to make some scrambled eggs, so that I could get something in my stomach. I thought the reaction was because I had taken the tablets on an empty stomach. I sat down on the bathroom floor, feeling very flat, and it was an effort just to lift an arm.
When the food was ready, I stood up, and stumbled to the kitchen, where I took a few bites of the food. I then went back to the lounge, and sat down. My eyesight became worse, there were things floating around, and everything was very bright, but in a hazy sort of way. There was a lot of white, and I could not see the objects in front of me, only vaguely seeing the objects in my peripheral vision.
I asked Alida to take me to the hospital. I was passing out, and knew that if that happened, Alida would be unable to get me into the car. I stumbled out to the car, and she followed. She left her oxygen concentrator, her purse, etc. and came out to the car. We drove off the farm, I opened the gates, because I knew it would be much quicker than waiting for her to do it. While travelling in the car, I felt this terrible itching! My arms were red, and itching! The more I scratched, the more it itched! It was maddening! My neck, legs, everywhere started itching! I tried not to scratch, rather rubbed the skin, but it was driving me crazy!
We went straight to the hospital, I explained to the lady what the problem is, and they almost immediately took me through to a bed. There was a barrage of nurses and doctors coming in and looking, and asking many questions. They put a drip in my hand, with some solution dripping into my veins. Finally, one of the doctors asked me to follow him to his room, where he again asked many questions, and examined me, took blood pressure, etc. My blood pressure was very low, 95/56.
I again started passing out, and told him I was going to vomit. Alida passed me bucket, and I retched and retched.
The doctor then decided I should be taken up in hospital. They put more stuff into the drip, one of which I heard was a steroid. I lay on the bed, shivering and shaking from the cold. The nurse thought it strange, because she said my body was hot to the touch. I could not control the shaking, it was quite embarrassing.
After a while, I started feeling better, and the doctor came in, said I should get up, and walk around a bit, so that they could see if I am going to be alright to go home, otherwise I would have to stay overnight in the hospital. I was not keen on this, as it meant Alida would have to spend the night alone on the farm.
At around 18:30, a nurse came in, and took readings again. They were satisfied that the Amoxicillin was out of my system, or at least that the concentration was now so low, that there would not be further reactions. They said I could go home.
We came home, and had pies for supper. I went to bed around 21:00, and slept well.