World's Worst Patient

Health is not valued until sickness comes. ~ Thomas Fuller

Confession: I make a horrible sick person. Horrible. It’s true. Most things I can suck up and just deal with, but being sick has never really been one of them. I moan, I groan, I whine ‘Why me? Whhhyyy??!!’ Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with a kick ass immune system so I rarely have to explore this aspect of my personality, but every now and again the ole immune system gets caught napping and kaPOW!

And apparently it took the mother of all naps Tuesday morning. I woke up feeling fine and dandy, but by 10am nausea set in, followed by exhaustion. I thought, meh, just an off day. I’ll rest up tonight and be right as rain tomorrow. Until the chills set in. Once I get the chills I know I’m in trouble. It’s like my body’s way of saying, ‘Girl, you best batten down the hatches, ‘cause there’s a storm comin’.’ And sure enough…

I ended up leaving the day job early and made it home by 4pm where I crawled into bed. I crawled back out when hubby and the boy arrived home but it was a brief sojourn. I couldn’t get comfortable. All movement made the nausea worse. My body ached. My skin hurt. When I finally crawled back into bed, the dog was hogging my side. I didn’t have the energy to remove him and he sure as hell wasn’t going anywhere of his own volition. I whined, possibly sobbed, then collapsed half on the dog and half on the six inches of space he left me.

I figured I would be better in the morning. I’m rarely sick more than one day. But apparently the immune system didn’t fall asleep, it took a hiatus. The next day the chills and most of the aches were gone but the nausea, dizziness and exhaustion had taken root. I couldn’t walk across the room without needing a two hour nap to recover.  I couldn’t stomach anything more than water and most times not even that.  I woke the next day after a restless sleep feeling even worse. How could this be possible? I called in sick to the day job for a second day. Hubby brought me home some Gatorade to replenish my electrolytes and potassium levels. I managed two small glasses before my stomach cried, “Enough already!”

This morning I felt a little better. The nausea has subsided enough that I had a piece of toast with my Gatorade for breakfast. I even emptied the compost bin. Although that left my knees shaking and my head spinning so I had to sit down for about an hour afterwards.  Still not well enough to make it into work. The last time I suffered an epic flu like this was around 1992, a little over 20 years ago. I’m perfectly happy if I don’t see it again for another 20. Maybe by then I’ll learn to be a better sick person, but I wouldn't hold my breath.