Friday, December 16, 2005

I'm getting tired of this.

Mostly because it's become predictable.

Get up. Feel okay. Think, "I can go to work today. Good deal."

Drink a little coffee. Drink a little water.

Stumble to bathroom either to a) lose coffee and water immediately, or b) lie on the floor in a cold sweat with the room spinning, then lose coffee and water.

Fall prey to a number of nasty intestinal symptoms.

Return to floor. Sweat some more. Feel the beginning of a pounding headache.

Haul self, on hands and knees if necessary, to phone. Phone in sick.

Answer various questions about degree and type of symptoms. Why on earth do they want to know this? *I* don't want to know this about *myself*.

Stumble back to bathroom. Stick thermometer in mouth, note return of fever. Note intensification of pounding headache. Note rumblings of a sort that bode ill for the health of my GI tract.

Stumble, several minutes and one more cold sweat later, back to bed. Lie there panting.

Wake up several hours later feeling borderline normal. Eat half a boiled potato. Meditate on the gastrocolic reflex almost immediately thereafter.

Back to bed, panting. Wonder what everybody's doing at work. Wonder if I'll live long enough to return. Wonder when this is going to stop.

Remember what happened on Wednesday morning. Haul self to kitchen and drink a little ginger ale. Haul self to bathroom to retrieve thermometer.

After ten minutes in bed, take temperature. Fever is unchanged. Head still hurts.

Fall asleep. Wake up. Post bitchy whiny blog entry on illness.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

**For those of you who are thinking that there might be a Little Jo at the end of this, please don't worry. As far as I know, pregnancy occurs most often in people not contracepting and is generally not accompanied by a fever, gut cramps, and other GI symptoms. But thanks for your concern.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jo,

I'm sorry you are still so under the weather. I can sympathize, although my recent illness was much more respiratory than intestinal (although post gastric-bypass, GI symptoms are a way of life)

Isn't it amazing how comforting the cool tile of the bathroom floor is at different agers of your life? In your twenties, it is comfoting as you deal with what you did to your body. Later, it is comforting as you deal with what your body is doing to you!

I'll keep the good thoughts coming your way (good psychich karma never hurts...)

John

Anonymous said...

Feel better soon, Jo!

Anonymous said...

Poor Jo!!! You sound awful. Get better soon, but keep your germs the heck away from my corner of the blogosphere. :-)

Anonymous said...

Jo, could it be your appendix?

Jo said...

It had better *not* be my appendix. I have zero, zilch, no belly pain.

And I actually just...ate some toast! Loud cheers!

I don't think it's so much getting *over* this sort of bug as it is getting so *bored* with it that the virus decides to pack up and move on to someone more interesting.

Jo said...

That's one hella virus you have. I was concerned about a PG, it was the cravings that bore the red flag. lol
Really hope you are doing better soon,
~Jodi

Anonymous said...

I am sure you could have lived your whole life without having this variation of a stomach bug. Sheesh...sounds brutal!! Take care of yourself.

~J (your student RN fan who has been reading your blog for a few months and is just now commenting!)