Tag: flu

  • Sick Days

    Last Wednesday night, I felt bad. It felt like the beginnings of the flu, with muscle aches. I emailed work and told them I’d be taking a sick day. This is very unusual. I don’t usually decide until the morning. But I was pretty sure the night before.

    Thursday morning I had chills, and that afternoon I spiked a fever. I felt so bad that I didn’t take Tylenol until Mr. Sandwich came home, because I needed him to get the Tylenol from the bathroom cabinet. Getting it myself was too hard.

    Then I started throwing up. That was fun.

    I took another sick day on Friday. Saturday evening, we went to urgent care. They said it was probably bronchitis, gave me antibiotics, and told me to see my regular doctor on Monday and stay home from work until Wednesday.

    I felt too sick on Monday, but I made an appointment for Tuesday.

    On Tuesday, our street was being slurry-sealed. That meant we had to park around the corner. It’s not too far, but it’s not as close as our actual driveway. I headed out to the car, and as I walked down the street, could not help but notice the four police officers and maybe a sheriff, plus the guy sitting in the back seat of one of the police cars. Possibly this explained the helicopters I’d heard earlier. I also realized that my wallet was not in my bag. Since the situation on the corner appeared to be coming to a close, I decided to check the car. My wallet wasn’t in the car. I went back to the house, just as the guy in the police car was allowed to get out of the police car. My wallet wasn’t in the house, either. That meant it was probably in the car Mr. Sandwich had taken to work (long story short, it was). But I didn’t want to drive to the doctor’s office without my wallet, and I didn’t want to walk back to the car. So I punted.

    On Wednesday, my doctor gave me a new antibiotic and an inhaler. You know it’s going well when you get an inhaler. She also said that if I wasn’t feeling better on Friday, to call back and she’d send me for a chest x-ray.

    I wasn’t feeling better. Weirdly, I kind of had to argue to get the chest x-ray. But I got it, and you know what?

    I’ve got pneumonia.

    I’ve also got yet another antibiotic (don’t worry, every time I get a new one, I stop taking the old one, AND I’m taking probiotics). And two days in, I’m still freaking exhausted and coughing. My left lung still feels like it’s stuck to itself when I breathe.

    Now, mind you, through all of this, Baguette still needs to go to school. And while I may want to spend all day sitting on the couch, she really can’t. So there are still outings and whatnot.

    But after stocking up on Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, and then making minestrone, I have easy food for the next few days. So that’s good.

    bowl of homemade vegetable soup

  • Sick

    I’ve been sicker.

    For example, I was actually able to get Baguette to day care on my own. Not bad, if I do say so myself. Why?

    On Friday, Baguette came home with a stomach virus. After several bouts of vomiting, she was done–and the next morning, she was fine. (We skipped swimming and a Halloween party in the interests of Calm, but she clearly was back to her regular pizza-loving self.)

    And all seemed well. But then, last night, it turned out that I had the same stomach virus. And between trips to the bathroom and just feeling lousy, I think I got maybe two and a half hours of sleep.

    As the night progressed, I also started to feel very achy. And my feet got cold–so cold I dug out the ancient cashmere socks that I bought I-don’t-know-how-long-ago.

    We didn’t sleep in much after Mr. Sandwich left for work, and I got Baguette to day care about 30 minutes later than usual. Then I went back to bed and slept until about 10. When I woke up, I was still achy, and my feet were cold again. And eventually, the aches turned into an actual fever. So not only did I have some kind of stomach bug, but I got to top it off with the flu! Huzzah!

    I spent most of the day on the sofa bed trying to keep warm. I felt so bad that it was too hard to get up, walk 15 feet to the hall thermostat, and turn on the heater. It was going to be a warm day–surely the house would heat up on its own. But it didn’t, and the socks and a fleece throw could only do so much, so eventually I succumbed to the lure of the heater.

    I tried a little water, and then a little weak tea, and eventually some Gatorade. And with the exception of one piece of toast, which clearly was a bad idea, that was all I had until Mr. Sandwich got home from work. (Dinner: broth and a little rice).

    I’m feeling better now, as indicated by the thermometer above, although I’m not sure how much of that is due to the Tylenol I was finally able to take. And it’s definitely not as bad as the time three and a half years ago that we got swine flu.

    But it was still miserable, and I hope Mr. Sandwich doesn’t get it.