Maybe if I tell on these germs, they'll get scared and go away.
Last tuesday I thought I was coming down with something, but I wasn't sure. Just a slightly scratchy throat. By evening I felt it taking a hold, though. I stayed home from work on wed and thu, which was a bit of a sore throat (but tolerable, which says a lot coming from me) and the next day, a decent headache. I would normally go in regardless of these symptoms, but I was also very loopy and confused so I didn't feel it safe for me to drive let alone try to get anything accomplished.
I made it in on Friday, still with an occasional bout of confusion or dizziness, but that hit me early afternoon so it was all good. I felt great by late afternoon and thought I was fine for sure, and had just beaten the easiest illness I'd ever had. Thought sleeping for two days was a wonderful thing, no runny nose, sneezing, nothing! It was awesome! So on Saturday we travelled north to see family and we encountered a sick toddler. I thought nothing of that until Monday when I went into work and started getting a sore throat again. By lunch my throat was on fire so I shovelled in a burger and fries and OMG do NOT drink Coke when you've got a sore throat like that...
I went home shortly after I got back from lunch because it was so bad I could barely talk without wanting to die and couldn't concentrate anyway. Plus, who knows if I was contagious or not. Well, I considered going to my doctor that afternoon but didn't see signs of strep other than the throat issue being my only symptom. I thought it would go away by evening. It didn't. In fact, it got to the point where I couldn't swallow very well, either. It was like trying to swallow a pill - you know, where you are aware of the gag reflex trying to keep the pill out, and you have to mentally trick yourself into swallowing it? That's sort of what it was like. The pain was horrendous. Around 7 or so, Dale asked if I wanted to go to the ER and I eventually asked to go. By that time I saw a line on one of my tonsils that wasn't going away and worried maybe it WAS strep - still no sneezing, coughing, etc, just the worst sore throat I can remember for a very long time.
Turns out it wasn't strep. I've no idea what the bill for that is going to be, but I find it ridiculous because we sat there for three something hours and during that time I was on Benadryl, so my body was trying to go to sleep. My temps, they said, were normal, yet I began to get cold and shook. At the time I figured it was because the sore throat and the discomfort of sitting in a chair was keeping me awake when the Benadryl was telling my body to sleep. My body really hates such predicaments and I'd begun wishing I hadn't taken the Benadryl earlier - I'd taken it so I could try to sleep through the remainder of the sore throat and lessen chances of postnasal drip back there. When we finally saw someone, the doctor was very rough, gagging me four times and speaking in a condescending tone of voice as if I had any control over my own gag reflex. I remember feeling tears streaming down my face from the gagging, and I wanted to slap him upside the head really bad. I'd heard negative things about him before so I suppose when I first heard who he was I should have gotten up and said "Never mind" but a) I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and b) I'd just spent three hours in worse misery than being home and really wanted to get antibiotics going if it was strep.
In the end I had to drink down some narcotic for the pain and fell blissfully asleep for a while, waking occasionally to a very dry mouth and searing throat pain despite the painkiller. By the next morning, however, my throat felt better - I could swallow, at least. However, I was very loopy from the drugs and exhausted. So, I stayed home from work and slept a good portion of the day. By evening, I thought I was on the mend but I didn't have an appetite yet and I still didn't want to drink much, just a sip of water here and there. I didn't figure I'd go in Wednesday, either, and I was right. I woke up feeling better, sore throat gone, but my sinuses had finally started to fill up and a small cough had developed. I was achy all over (minorly so) and didn't feel much up to thinking.
Then around noon, my appetite came back full force, my nose began to run, and I started coughing. I watched TV most of the day and could remember seeing most shows actually end, so I knew my mind was coming back and I wasn't conking out every so many minutes. I was very optimistic around 6pm that I'd be into work today because these are all signs I'm on the mend, and usually once they kick in, I'm ready and rearing to go. By bedtime I was really tired again and the cough was still unproductive, causing pain in my tiny bronchioles and a buildup of thick phlegm. My sinuses were mostly still thick with dark stuff (I won't be surprised if I have a sinus infection a week or two from now). Then I woke up at 1am with a fever of 101.8 which rose to 102.8 briefly from my attempts to feel warm and less congested in a hot shower. (Why do you have a fever when you're shivering uncontrollably? I don't get that.) Eventually I took some tylenol for the fever and minor muscle cramps (from shaking) and went back to bed and just woke up about 9am. I vaguely remember Dale getting up this morning, but do remember when he woke up and said "Happy Anniversary."
Currently my temp is at 97.6 and I think I'm starting to get hungry but don't really want to think about food just yet.
I'm getting rather sick of being sick. A friend called me last night and began describing what sounds identical. She's been struggling with it for two weeks and says it came on like a scratchy throat, headache, exhaustion; then it seemed to go away and came back full force a few days later. She's just starting to feel alive again. Says she's known a few people that have had this.
I'm going to start calling it The Plague, and it's not Fisher Stevens, either. (I've always kinda liked him, actually.)
Now that the germs have been told on, maybe they'll fear for their lives and get the funk out. I'm gonna chase them away with a baseball bat. As soon as I can move again.
~w
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