Monday. 03 Oct
Off to work as normal. The dwarfs and I. It's a German holiday so I am left without a coworker and my own devices. I meet-an-greet, do my shopping and end up home as the sun goes down. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Feels like a Monday.
Tues. 04 Oct
I have to bypass my excitement and anticipation of our weekly women's bible study group in lieu of hanging near my phone. (We're doing a very interesting study of the respect = love = respect dichotomy between husbands and wives.) I'm on the prowl for my event team that has flown in from the states for a party at the hospital I work at. I get the privilege of spending 8 hours on my normal day off driving them around the area shaking hands, introductions, tourist destinations, hotels and base passes with a flurry. (I call them mine because they were so cool. Ironically I was merely a tool in their master plan. They paid for it all. Brought it all and did it all. Mostly.)
Always available for morale boosting and nap support.
Wed. 05 Oct
The big party day. I woke up with a slight nudge in my throat and fully attributed it to my lack of sleep. When I'm a little backlogged my body can get very fouled but nothing a 12 hour nap doesn't cover. The event went off beautifully. Mark and I provided muscle, nudges, phone calls and delivery services for the day. The wounded warriors felt appreciated and the party throwers got their under-the-radar happy glow they were trying to provide. It was a marvelous success.
Warning flag. After the falderal I was getting remarkedly peaked by the minute. I had to sadly bow out of the evenings festivities so I could regain some energy in the form of my couch. At one point my sick brain was so clogged I forgot that the MIL was busily cooking lasagnas for the weekly Wednesday night couples study I attend. I thought it was just a cold.
05:45p. I handed the baked italian fare to my friend to deliver in my absence. I stumble onto the couch and wake up near 10p. The sore throat, throbbing head, fever, severe fatigue, piercing ear pain and vertigo feel like they are crushing me. I stumble to my room, up the endless stairs and crash until morning.
The MIL brightened my sick-couch view a bit.
Thursday night through Saturday morning pass in a blur. Sleep, drink, cough, lubricate, sleep, stumble downstairs, move to couch, doze through multiple seasons of NCIS, attempt a few bites of food, sleep some more, text the husband, nap, move to bed, sleep, grumble at the unrelenting head pressure and lack of useful drugs and repeat. I told him I would visit the ER after the 72 hour mark. No one likes a sick-faker. I'm a big kid. It's probably just a flu. Or a cold. Or the stupid HepA viral scare again. I hope to God not that.
Saturday afternoon, 08 Oct was a big day. I was able to sit upright on the couch without wanting to hurl. The headache had lessened a little and I was visiting the ER. My trusty Go.o.gle was thinking I was clogged up with Strep and possible Ear Infections. My vote was that the sinus drainage was causing near pain but not necessarily infection. I hate being right.
After roping a friend into driving me (I hadn't been able to stand without collapsing for nearly a week, I was most certainly not attempting driving) we headed out. 90 minutes in the waiting room because whatever I had didn't rank on the priority scale. I know how ER's work. It was the same hospital I spent 4-12 hours a working day at.
When finally ushered back to the lovely Maj Doc I wasn't that suprised. It was Viral they said. Not sure exactly how or why but their prescription sounded faintly familiar: Rest and Hydrate. (The doctor almost gave me a sick note for Monday until I assured her it was a federal holiday and was already slated off. She also agreed that we work in a very sick environment and it was ok to blame my work on The Bug.)
Go team. Husband, Twin, Buckwheat, parentals, MIL and local family friends were all of course pleased to hear I hadn't contracted something Dangerous and am on the mend. Husband actually said 'Of course it's a Viras!' being as how that seems to be my record in the last 2 years with medical professionals. (I get this one more time before he returns in 8 weeks and I will stay in that place until they give me a legit diagnosis or a super antibiotic that can return to me my former fairly impregnable immune system!)
Sunday I am pleased to report gave me 12 straight hours with only a minor headache and the rest of the earlier symptons. By 4p the brain crushing pain was back but I felt somewhat accomplished.
And I'm talking again. In the words of the MIL and Twin and Husband: You must be feeling better. I'm able to threaten my cat so I'm sure that's a good sign.
