So I've been sick for a week and a half now. I don't get sick often... maybe once a year on average. Usually it's some chest cold and, while it may linger for a week or two, I'm not completely down and out for more than maybe a day or two. As a point of reference, in the 13 years I've worked at Horner, I've maybe taken 3 days total as "sick" days due to some cold or virus hanging me out to dry. (This doesn't count an appendectomy and a broken arm.)
On Friday, March 4th, I started having a sore throat. Today is the 14th and I still have it. This wasn't some run-of-the-mill sore throat. I had strep throat in my younger days a time or two and this brought back memories of that... the level of pain was huge, so much so that it was hard to swallow anything, water included. On Sunday, the 6th, I hit up the Immediate Care center. Not strep. Didn't tell me much else. Hooked me up with Amoxicillan based on my telling them I was blowing rainbow snot. I went home and started on my 'Mox. Sunday night, I went ahead and called in sick for Monday barring a miraculous recovery overnight.
All day Monday, I felt like a toasted turd. With a horrible sore throat. Like, purposely spitting to keep from swallowing. My bottle of 100 Advil started disappearing quickly. I think I may have taken a 4 hour nap that day. Following that, I felt bad enough that I didn't think I'd make it to work again, but good enough to go into the office that evening and grab some equipment so that I could work from home. Tuesday, sure enough, crap. Got some work done but continued feeling like crap. I think I may have taken another nap, which then threw my sleep schedule to the wind... I ended up being up until well after midnight.
Wednesday, I took my THIRD sick day in a row. By Wednesday afternoon, I was feeling much better. I did have a sump pump issue that had cropped up with all the rain and felt well enough to crawl 5 feet into the crawl space to remedy that. I actually felt better after I crawled out than I did before.
Thursday morning, I was back at work... still a sore throat that was subsiding, but I can sit in a chair behind a computer at work without using up personal time. What I failed to do was bring any fluids or pain meds with me. Thursday evening saw me coughing and feeling rather crummy again, sore throat back on full.
Friday morning after sleeping in, I felt well enough to go in but my voice had left me. I ended up getting to work at noon. Over the day, my sore throat started to migrate up my Eustachian tube to my left ear. Then I made the mistake of having a bagel with cream cheese and triggering my wheezy-dry-cough lactose intolerance symptom on top of everything. That wore me out. Crashed Friday night around midnight and slept until I got up Saturday at 3PM.
At this point, I was on day 9 of a horrible sore throat. The tally: 2 packages of Ricola Green Tea & Echinacia throat drops, 2 packages of Jolly Rancher hard candies, a finished-out bottle of 100 Advil, 2 gallons of Tropicana Trop 50 reduced sugar fruit juice (orange, pineapple/mango, and blueberry/pomegranate, if you're wondering), 3 Pho or Chicken Soup trips from my Vietnamese place, and untold hours of Hulu and Netflix. And I had no voice. My thoughts at this point, if not long before now; "This is bullshit."
Saturday evening, I went back to the Immediate Care (yes, I need to find a doctor). I whispered my issues to them, then to the doctor as he checked me out. They put me in one of the kid-centric rooms since they had so many people in that evening. I got to look at a whale and a big chart of what you can say to a child to let them know they're doing well. The doctor played my belly like a drum and tickled me in my armpits (mononucleosis tests) and looked at all the boogers in my nostrils... I imagined he maybe read them like an old witch doctor who rolled some chipmunk bones out on a table or something. He told me, "You're doing super, champ!" and "A-OK, hero!"
After telling me my sinuses looked wasted, he surmised Sinusitis was to blame. Sent me away with a 'scrip' for Cipro and Vicodin, so I went and whispered sweet nothings to the pharmacy tech at Walgreens. Went home, took a batch of Cipro and a couple Vicodin and went to bed.
Now, whether it was just the natural course of things or whether Cipro is just THAT badass, I was able to swallow without bracing or gripping something to death the next morning. Still not gone, but much more tolerable.
So here's Monday, I'm feeling better (but still only about 70%), and I haven't posted anything on here for a full week... that is just how much zero I felt like doing last week. And, gee, I feel bad. Turns out, I found a treat. Yes, it's the Top Gear guys, BUT IT'S DIFFERENT!!! They evidently did a one-off episode of some garden show where they surprise a home owner with a garden/yard makeover before they get home from work. It's a 3-parter (30 minutes and, coupled with the novella above, this should cover a week), so grab some popcorn and enjoy:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
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