Under the weather

137: SickiesYou know what stinks? That moment you realize, “I’m getting sick.” And then you spend the next few hours or days in denial, all while doing what you can to avoid it happening.

Yeah, that was me a few days ago. I fell asleep on the couch for about 15 minutes, and when I woke up my head felt it was twice its size. It was THAT moment. So, I started my battle with my old faithful of sinus rinses and apple cider vinegar tonic. Musicinex and a couple doses of Sudafed PE. I also take Zyrtek and Flonase daily.

A couple days of teetering between okay and not-okay, I woke up with a full-fledged cold. And the crappiest part of it?

My husband was on the road. And Mom is 800+ miles away. I was on my own.

What is it about being sick that just makes you want to be doted on? To want to just wrap up in a blanket, sit on the couch, eat popsicles and watch mindless TV. To want to have someone else make you supper, and bring you a cold glass of water when you just don’t want to get up off the couch.

Oh, its not the first time I’ve been on my own while under the weather. It won’t be the last time. But it still makes me WANT to turn into a whiny little kid. Even at 30.

Now the funny thing about a cold is that there’s really nothing you can do about it, and within that, I had no real good reason to call out of work. (Trust me, though, if I’d felt I was contagious I’d have called out. ) And, you know what? I am glad I had to work. A hot shower, flat ironed hair, make-up and just being up and among people made me feel better. It made me forget about how big my head felt. It motivated me to keep going.

I followed a work evening with a day of sleep, water, Muscinex, Vitamin C, Sudafed and sinus rinses. Mostly sleep. And as a result, I am running at about 90% now. I alternated sleep with house work today (and hubby is home, so he went to the grocery store for me and instead of popsicles brought me a six-pack of a new seasonal beer — I love that man!), and I think I should be running at full speed again tomorrow (or darn close!).

We’re going into Fall, though, which usually means sicky time for me. I’ll try to keep the whining to a minimum. Try.