sick

Man, did I get hit hard this year by the flu bug
A couple of weeks of allergy attacks had softened me up
Friday afternoon comes along and the muscle aches normally associated with endless sneezing start getting deeper
Just when I had gotten out of that phone room full of sick old people who sneezed in their hands and then refused to use hand sanitizer (“I can’t stand the smell” they say when I hand them the pump) and I thought I had gotten away free
That’s when I knew it caught up with me
So, I instantly grabbed some OJ and some Emergen-C packets and tried to beat it as it was happening
Well, I didn’t do enough
I had plans to go out to Station 4 to videotape OBCT and Uzza but by mid afternoon, I had started to feel the full onslaught
I cancelled going out and dug in

Normally, I wouldn’t write about this stuff because it is a bit boring to hear someone whine about being sick but I see it as an opportunity to develop my observational skills and document the unusual things that were happening inside my head

Like I said, I expected it to be a night of tossing and turning and sweating
I had almost consumed all of my OJ by Sat afternoon and assumed that would be all I needed
That is, until I tried to get up to go pee and fell down on the spot
I was so dizzy that it took me forever to get down the hall
“Great”, I thought to myself
“I am trapped here and this is way more serious than I thought”
Nevermind the social responsibility of not going out into the world and spreading this to others, if I couldn’t even walk to the bathroom then I sure as hell couldn’t drive a car or walk to the store
A friend brought me more OJ but I knew I was in for a very unplesant evening

The first objective is the whole “rest and fluids” thing so I drank as much as I could and tried to sleep
This is where my over-active brain became my enemy
As I lay there trying to fall asleep, my brain was working overtime trying to figure out many different small scenarios
Of course, being sick and possibly dreaming (am I asleep or just so weak that it seems like it?) everyone knows that fever drems make no sense
My brain is very good at manufacturing thoughts that make no sense so there were 3 or 4 sub-routines running underneath the main conundrum
“If I just move my arm this way and shift my hips this way then I will get comfortable”
This worked for a couple of minutes (or longer b/c I had no real concept of time) until the position was no longer comfortable
Multiply that by 40 minute incraments to get up and stagger towards the bathroom to pee out another quart of OJ
The only respite was that I wasn’t nauseous
Mind you, that didn’t matter because food seemed like an alien concept at the moment (even something as innofensive as mixed fruit)
I figured that I would have to suffer though one night of this and then ride out the aftermath on Sunday
I was wrong

I was over the worst come Sunday morning because I could at least get downstairs to the kitchen and eat half a can of fruit without breaking my neck falling down the stairs
I also went out to get re-stocked on OJ
Sunday was going to be recouperation day but Sunday night was no better for sleep
The body-positioning loop in my head was now replaced by a computer screen in my head
I was on a loop of entering info , hitting “enter” and getting an error message
I believe this is the residual frustration from filling out online applications this past week for my new potential employer
I did this 3 or 4 times only to have the computer respond with an error, completely erasing the work I had done
Sunday evening was spent repeating this over and over in my head whilst I tried to sleep
“Monday will be the last day” I thought to myself
It can’t last much longer
I was wrong again

Monday was a lot better with no nausea or dizziness but I was still sore and weak and tired
Once again, the day was spent napping and resting
However, the isolation was starting to get to me
My naps were nothing more than me closing my eyes and listening to the traffic outside my window
Monday night’s dreams were at least entertaining
Entertaining as in there was stuff going on
That doesn’t mean they were plesant
Everywhere I went, people were fighting and I was constantly having to guard my bag of belongings because someone was always trying to rip me off

Today is a lot better
I am still sore and weak but this things has to be over soon
I have taken all the medication I can, pumped myself full of vitamin C and slept constantly
If I don’t get a good sign of recovery by tomorrow them I am going to seriouslt have to consider seeing a doctor
I keep forgetting that I have health insurance