At about 1300, I woke to a huge crash of thunder, followed immediately by Max shouldering open the back door, and the realization that the headache had been joined by somebody who was scrubbing my sinuses and throat with Brillo, a nasty hacking cough, and the sort of body aches and chills that make you long for oblivion.
I have a cold. Not just any cold, but the cold that made the hardest-working patient care aide I know (shout out to PCAs here: you guys have the toughest job ever) leave early from work for the first time in his life. I have the cold that sent me out to the pharmacy in pajama pants and a sweatshirt, and made me wish for the first time that Littleton had package stores, so that I could pick up some whiskey for a hot toddy on the way home. I have the cold that even a hot-water bottle won't cure. I have the cold that makes the edges of your nostrils bleed from constant contact with a hankie.
Plus, I still have the damned headache.
So, if you've commented or emailed or called in the last nine hours, I apologize. I didn't get back to you right away, and I won't be getting back to you for several hours, if not days.
I'll just be over here in the corner, a cat on each side of me, Max looking Very Concerned, wanting my mommy, and snuggling my hot water bottle.
UGH! Double UGH! Misery, thy name is cold...
ReplyDeleterest, plenty of fluids, maybe some soup, and for the love of all that is holy, wash your hands. The rest of us don't want that shit!
Sorry, sympathy ran out half way through the comment...
I'm sorry you're sick. Hopefully you get to stay home in bed with kitty hotpacks :) And thanks for the PCA shoutout, we don't get many!
ReplyDeleteWhat you have is influenza! I'm on day 7 - body aches and HA are gone now but the cough has me taking prednisone, inhaling albuterol and popping a Z pack.
ReplyDeletea URI doesn't make your body feel like curling up in a fetal position!
Get better! : )
Take care!!
ReplyDeleteFor your poor, bleeding nose ~ dedicate a tube of Chapstick/Blistex/whatever to your nose... after each blow, rub some on ~ amazing what a difference it can make!
Hope you Feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteUgh. If you were within 30 miles of Philadelphia, I could leave whiskey on your doorstep, if you think it might help. I've HAD that cold, and it was miserable.
ReplyDeleteCold, schmold. Sounds like you have the flu. Either way, it sucks ass. Hope you get well soon.
ReplyDeleteOh that sounds awful!
ReplyDeleteHope you start feeling better fast and sleep as much as possible. It may not be medicinal, but at least you're unconscious for the worst of it. ;)
I do have to say that I very much enjoy the tag of "grave life-threatening snotballs ew," but other than that, I'm very unhappy about this all.
ReplyDelete:-(
(((((Jo!)))))
You have my sympathies. I'd send homemade chicken soup if I could.
ReplyDeleteMy other half says nurses make the worst sick people ever. He says he has empirical data about this dating back twenty years. I just tell him to shut up and to make me another hot rum toddy.
Poor you. I second the chapstick on the nose thing. I also vote for flu. ( Well, not for flu, I mean, I'm not electing it. I mean I think it sounds more like flu that a cold.)
ReplyDeleteI hate those colds. HATE them. I always envy people who get mild colds that leave them in bed for a day and then are functional.
ReplyDeleteFor the nose chapping, I use vaseline - and I mean big globs of it. You look gross, but it's a big relief.
Feel well soon darling!
ReplyDeletegross as it is...cloth hankies do well on the sore noses. FWIW my bout with H1N1 was full of awful splitting headache plus cold symptoms and fever. Advil and tylenol are your friends.
ReplyDeleteHang in there, Jo.
ReplyDeleteOh God, that sounds awful.
ReplyDeleteI say it's the flu, or if it's not, there should be a whole different name for colds of that extreme virulence. "Cold" does not do it justice.
Feel better soon!
Oh no! Being sick is the worst. If you are still feeling under the weather you should try making some Cold and Flu Tea!
ReplyDeleteGet the recipe here:
http://scrubsmag.com/2010/01/30/cold-and-flu-tea-recipe/
HOpe you are feeling better. I always say it's a miracle we in the medical field don't get sick more often...I guess small doses of exposure. Grab some soup and take a nap and watch some movies! Thanks
ReplyDelete