Thank You Cindy

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/28/12530/1525

You are one of my heroes.

Light at the end of the tunnel

I'm nearing the end of a 12 day stretch of work/obligations. Today is day 10. Saturday, actually, Friday night, cannot come soon enough. There will definitely be some beverage consumption of the alcoholic type this weekend.

At least I'll have a kick ass paycheck. That should cover the new clothes for my growing boys. Yes, plural. Frodo doesn't fit in ANY of his shorts from last summer. Last night, we went shopping at Kohl's for some new ones. (I *heart* Kohl's!) Hubby needed some new t-shirts, so he picked a few out. While we're shopping, he mentions that his shorts from last summer have "shrunk". Ummmm.... That isn't accurate sweetie. They didn't shrink. You grew.

Sigh. Time to head to part 2 of "electronic medical record" training. :P

Sooooo white trash....

Frodo and I went to the mall this evening. I had a coupon for $10 off a $10 purchase at Penneys, and I'm not one to basically turn down free money. I was hoping to buy myself a shirt or two, but I couldn't find anything I liked. Frodo ended up with a pair of shorts and a new t-shirt for $8 after the coupon, so at least it got some good use.

At our mall, a couple stores have taken to putting in CARTS. It looks quite Wally World-ish with carts in those stores, but oh well. What really gets to me though, is the people that take the carts from those stores and push them around the mall!!! There are signs in those stores that specifically state 'The carts in this store are provided for use while shopping in our store and are not to be removed from the premises" (but it probably says it more concisely than I just did). I just don't understand the need to push a cart around the MALL. It's so damn tacky. And the cart pusher looks like a total dumb ass, not only because he/she is pushing a cart in the mall, but also because they were dumb enough to not see (or even to be able to read )a sign that said to leave the cart in the store.

Ok. I'm done ranting on that subject for now. And I'm about to fall asleep sitting up in my chair. (Yay for tapering to a low dose of prednisone! I can sleep again!)

Chewy.

Over the weekend, my sweet hubby went to the grocery store and purchased some orange juice and chicken soup for me. Mmmmm.

I opened the second container of orange juice tonight.

It's "Lots of Pulp".

There's nothing quite like having to chew your OJ.....

Maybe I can make some smoothies out of it.

I thought I was gonna die....

Well, not quite, but that option might've been a little more pleasant.

Starting late Tuesday night, I had a little bit of a cough. It started while I was digging in some boxes in a slightly musty corner of my basement. I was getting ready for the big garage sale weekend by finding the last of the items that were doing nothing but taking up space. I figured the cough was due to the musty smell or some dust I stirred up.

Wednesday, I woke up with *that feeling* - you know, the feeling that you're coming down with something. I tried to ignore it. That lasted all of about an hour before I was ready to take a nap. I napped for a couple hours and felt a little better, so I worked on carting all my priced items over to my sister's house for the garage sale.

While we were unpacking some boxes into her garage, you wouldn't believe the number of people that kept coming up and looking around like we were having the sale right then and there! We had our cars in the driveway, and things in boxes everywhere. At least some people had the manners to actually ask if we were ready yet. So at least all of humanity isn't dumb as a box of rocks. Just part of it.

Thursday, I got up and had to do one of my least favorite things to do - call in sick to work. Seriously, I'm one of those psycho people who feels uber responsible about things like that. I know. I'm weird. I have a great boss though, and I really like my job.... (And it helps that I don't have to work full-time. I can stay out of the crappy office politics that way.)

Back on subject though - my immenent death. I called in sick Thursday because I spiked a fever of 104 with painful chills and had a terrible cough. My whole body ached. I hoped a day of rest, fluids, and acetaminophen would get me back on track.

Friday, I got up, and I wasn't better at all. I was worse. I was still running the high fever, I was still incredibly achy, and now I couldn't speak without coughing. I called in sick to work again. This time I didn't feel as bad about calling in because I felt like I had been run over by a truck that then backed over me a couple times then parked on my chest and revved it's engine before taking off and dragging me behind it down the interstate.

My hubby worked the night before and was sleeping, so I waited it out for a bit before I made him take me to the doctor. I spent a few hours at the doctor's office getting an IV since a high fever and a bad cough cause one to get dehydrated faster than one can drink orange juice and water. A bag of fluids and a shot of pain reliever later, and I was quite surprised at how much better I felt. I was also surprised that my teeth weren't floating. I really thought I was doing an ok job of keeping myself hydrated. I wasn't. After the IV, I got hooked up with a handful of prescriptions - prednisone, codeine cough syurp and an albuterol inhaler.

Tonight, the second day of taking prednisone, I'm a bit wired and unable to sleep. I guess that's where the codeine will come in? I still cough, but only if I move around. As long as I stay still, I hardly cough. And I can *almost* speak a whole sentence without a cough tonight! I like when things show a progression in the right direction.

This was a pleasant reminder that just because it's nice out doesn't mean influenza isn't still around. (Check out the recent spike on this surveillance graph from the CDC.) And that if I'm ever offered a flu shot in October again, I will definitely be WAITING. Hubby and Frodo got their flu shots in December and skated right through this with minor problems. I had my flu shot in October because an *extra* was lying around the clinic on a Friday afternoon and we didn't want it to go to waste.... From now on, I stick to my Thanksgiving flu shot schedule!

At least now I don't feel like I'm going to die. Now I'm going to see what I can do about getting to sleep while on higher doses of prednisone....