What Now

I don't care what the Doctor has said. I think I have Mad Cow Disease. : )

In lieu of a weekend update as I normally post, I am going to delight you with the weirdest weekend that I've spent, healthwise anyway, in a long time. I know you're excited, so stop trying to hide it! ; )

Friday I was feeling under the weather. Not so much that I couldn't function, of course, but enough for me to know that something was amiss. I had a very busy day, so when I got home and took a nap, I didn't think anything of it, really. Later that evening, Steve and I met Josh for dinner at Surin of Thailand and then went on to Books-a-Million as we normally do when eating over that way. By the time we were over there, I was feeling weird. I can't really explain how, but it was like I was in a dream. I wondered around for a while and found some books and my dad's christmas gift (the Bible on CD, as read by James Earl Jones. Steve calls it, the King James Earl Jones Version) and ended up wondering through the arts & crafts section. Somewhere right in the middle of there I realized I couldn't breathe very well. I've noticed that as much as I love bookstores, they have begun to depress me. I can't really put my finger on why at this point, but they remind me of something very sad. It's kind of annoying to get depressed over something that you can't remember, but that is what I thought was happening to me at that point. I stood there for a moment struggling to breathe until it got easier and then went to sit with Josh and Steve for a while.

*I'll stop here and remind you, if you don't know already, that I have a phobia about not being able to breathe. I've been this way since one of my cousins almost smothered me with a pillow when I was 12. Any time I feel closed in, I panic, so I never know if I really can't breathe, or if my panic makes it hard to breathe. But I digress...*

I felt better by the time we left and didn't think anything more about it until I woke up finding it hard to breathe again. Of course, everything was stopped up by that point, so I got up and took some medicine and went back to sleep. By the time I woke up Saturday morning, however, it was clear that I was sick. The kind of sick where you don't want to move and you head feels like it's full of tiny little imps that are trying to claw their way out of your skull. I had a lot to do that day, so I once again, medicated and went about my business in that wonderful, floaty, medicine induced way that one has when you take Non-Drowsy medication. At some point, though, I had to lie down, and I fell asleep again. This went on and on until Steve got home from helping out some friends in town. We had made plans to go out to The Jazz Factory and the new coffee shop "House of Brews" with Josh and Anthony, but I just couldn't do it. This was about the time I started hallucinating things. Weirdness. I kept thinking I was in a room with someone who wasn't really there, and thinking I was holding things that I wasn't. I ended up falling asleep during this because Steve woke me up before he left for dinner because I was crying really hard. I made myself get up after that and eat dinner myself, and I wound up taking more medicine and reading until I was too tired to do it anymore. Steve got home and begged me to go to the doc-in-the-box, but I knew if I went, I'd end up getting a shot. I hate shots. I decided that I wouldn't be sick much longer, so I told him I'd be fine. Sunday morning, though, I was worse. I didn't go to church, and while Steve was gone I drug myself to Walgreens and bought all kinds of different medicine, but forgot my tissues...ugh. I got home and took the stuff and lay about until we went to my parent's house. I know they wouldn't have minded if I didn't come, but I felt bad for missing it. I didn't go last week and my mom always sounds so disappointed when I have to cancel coming to sunday lunch, so Steve and I went out there. It was nice, but I just kind of floated through everything. Angie's neice was there and she thought it was funny that I carried a box of Kleenex around everywhere I went, but she probably wouldn't have laughed so hard if I didn't do it and had to wipe my nose on her! : ) We came back home and I fell asleep again. Steve went to church and got home in time to order in dinner. After that, I slept like the dead.

Monday morning I woke up and realized that if I didn't do something, I would probably die. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it didn't feel like it at the time. I knew I couldn't go to work, so I got up and drove to the doc-in-the-box for my shot. Actually, I drove to the wrong place first because I was so muzzy that I took the wrong road, but I finally found it! I even just wore my pajamas, becuase I didn't care at all by that point. I'm glad I went early because the place was already getting full after I signed in. My head was thudding and I kept coughing. It's bad when people at the walk-in clinic don't want to sit near you because they are scared of whatever you might give them! I finally got called back and almost fell asleep on the little paper covered table. They gave me a strep test and did chest and head x-rays, and indeed, I got the shot. The nurse was good at it though, or I was too sick to care, because it didn't hurt very much. Although, I'd love to know why they insist on giving me a shot in the rear when it's clear that I have some kind of upper resperatory issue! It tured out I had a bad sinus infection and bronchitus (don't know if I'm spelling that correctly). They gave me the ubiquitus orange codine based cough medicine that we always get and antibotics. The shot was supposed to help my congestion, but it didn't. I came home, took my new medicine, and slept.

So here I am, still not at work or school, trying to get well enough not to sneeze on anyone or fall asleep in the middle of a project. I am feeling much better that I did over the weekend, though, so I'll probably be back into the swing of things by tomorrow. That's a good thing. And hey, I can't complain too much...I'm not hallucinating anymore! Actually, I kind of miss that part...