I’d been doing so well. Got my tonsils out in July, and suddenly, all the head colds, ear infections, sore throats, et al that kept getting to me disappeared. But, now I’ve got the flu.
This ticks me off, because a) I got my flu shot back in October, and b) it’s past flu season. The consequence of this is, most everyone thinks I’m completely slacking. But I’m NOT. I’m miserable.
First was the cough with the interesting stuff brought up from my chest. Hey, no problem. Can’t blame that on my nonexistent tonsils, and besides, I probably picked it up from my mom, who’s had two bouts of bronchitis in the past four months. Then my lungs started making these really interesting snap, crackle, pop noises while I was breathing. Hmmm.
On Monday, came the headache. The blistering, I can’t follow the conversation it hurts so bad headache. I was still thinking “cold” at this time, with sinus involvement, so I went home a little early, slept off what I could, and went to play rehearsal. Tuesday morning, I woke up feeling rotten, took my morning shower, and was ready to go back to bed for a nap, I was so exhausted. Took my temp, and I was running a 100 degree fever.
I still went to work, because I really do have to give them more than an hour’s warning to find me a sub. It’s no fun dealing with a cheating problem, grumpy students, and a new writing assignment when you’re feverish. On the plus side, my cheeks were nice and pink from the fever. My sub arrived at second period, the kids promised to be good, I went home and fell asleep.
But I can’t sleep forever. For one thing, the noise in my lungs keeps waking me up. If it’s not that, it’s the lung scraping cough. If it’s not that, it’s the achy shoulder and hip joints. If it’s not that, then it’s the delightful freezing/sweltering conditions my body decides on and then swaps every five minutes.
It occurred to me when I woke up at one o’clock in the morning today, shivering with cold, that maybe this was a little more than your everyday cold. It took a fifteen minute shower to warm up enough to go back to sleep, and it took the combined hot shower, down comforter, and room heater on max for me to stop shivering.
At this point, I may be out for the rest of the week. When you’re a teacher, that’s an enormous amount of time. My kids will have resorted to cannibalism by Monday. In the meantime, I have play rehearsals that I probably won’t make, and hell week starts on Sunday, so even if I’m better, I’m going to be exhausted by the sheer amount of catching up.
Bleah. Being sick sucks.