Sick and tired of being sick and tired

A couple of weeks ago Bob got a pretty bad cold virus, and while taking care of him I managed successfully to avoid contracting it from him. I was very proud of myself, taking great care to wash my hands and slam Airborne a couple of times a day.  As Bob was finally getting over his cold, I started to let my guard down (stopped being careful to wash my hands, stopped the Airborne) and evidently came into contact with some diseased person in Chicago last weekend, who infected me with their version of this nasty virus.


I woke up Wednesday morning with what appeared to be a little old man who had smoked for 40 years living in my lungs.  I decided it was just my annual spring allergies, which break out after the first warm days, and denied that I was sick even though my voice was clearly several octaves lower than usual.  The next day it went into my head/nose and the temps dropped disturbingly, so my allergy story wasn't working anymore.  Still I gave denial another shot (in addition to slamming more Airborne) and went to a meeting on Thursday afternoon and evening.  Not my best idea.


I spent the next two days alternating between sneezing, coughing, blowing my nose, and contemplating death, with some whining and moaning thrown in for good measure. I am not exaggerating when I speculate that I drank 10 gallons of hot tea during this time, as it was the only thing that soothed me.  Well, hot tea and hot showers, though I couldn't take those every 20 minutes.  I slept better than I expected to at night thanks to Nyquil (and switching to decaf tea in the evening) but when morning came there was no relief, just more torture (and whining and hot tea).


But I had to do the Lord's work today so I bucked up and got out of bed, put clothes on for the first time in days (as opposed to the flannel jammies I'd been living in) and went to church.  Bob led most of the service while I limited myself to the Reflection which was mercifully short.  I was drugged and a bit dazed, and very happy to return home to my jammies and comfy chair, where I now sit with my laptop, starting my 11th gallon of tea.