What can I say… September has been one crazy month! Started off with a sprained foot (for the first week of school) and ended it with a sickness that is like nothing I’ve ever had before. Oh my… It can only get better from here!
Around Wednesday of last week, I started feeling “off”. I couldn’t place what it was, but I knew I was “off”.
Thursday, I noticed a hurtful spot in my throat. It wasn’t my whole throat, just a part of it. But I knew enough to start hyper-dosing on Vitamin C and other vitamins.
Friday, I woke up with still just that spot in my throat. So naturally, I got up and went to work. By the time the students went out for morning recess, I was SHIVERING. Shivering INSIDE the school. I quickly put my winter jacket on and sat at my desk. I stopped shivering while I sat there, but as soon as I got up to move, I would instantly get goosebumps and start shivering again. It didn’t matter where I went in the school, I was shivering. My students came in for recess and complained how hot our particular classroom was, and I sat there shivering with my winter jacket on. Something was seriously wrong. It didn’t take me long to figure out that my eyes were actually burning. My face was hot. And yet my hands were like ice and my body was covered in goosebumps and shivering. Oh boy…
Now… this is where I can be stubborn. I did not leave work and go home. I stayed for the next… almost 6 hours before going home. By that time, I thought my brain would be fried, my heart was starting to beat abnormally causing me to be weak and almost wanting to make me cry. I just wanted to go home. It was so hard to keep it together.
I shivered the whole way home and despite wanting to cry at every bus stop that I wasn’t home, or the short walking distance between the final bus stop and my apartment, I came in to my apartment, and jumped into bed covered with 2 huge blankets, my winter jacket, and tried to just warm up. This went on for hours. I couldn’t lay down, or lay half up because the heart beats, hard and fast, I think even skipping beats, would freak me out. I had to pack pillows behind myself to sleep sitting. I don’t remember what time I actually fell asleep, but my eyes were droopy, my face so hot, my body so cold. I woke up a few times during the night, but pushed myself to sleep as fast as possible.
Saturday morning, I woke up warm and with a normal heartbeat! How nice it was to not be so cold and shivering anymore! I noticed my nose/ears/throat wasn’t feeling the greatest, but the fever was gone! I jumped right out of bed, and had to pause. My head felt like a gong that someone had been hitting. Oh man. So I very slowly walked around and came and sat down. It seemed ok after those first few moments of getting. Sitting down, I had no problem. Got up again a little later, and had to pause again. I have never experienced a headache like this. Inconsistent in that it didn’t bother me when I was sitting still or laying still, but any fast movements or changes in sitting/standing/bending over would drive my head like a gong. I’m telling you. Like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. And this went all day.
Sunday morning, the headache is gone! Another success! But my throat/nose/ears are still not good. So I do nasal treatments, ear treatments, etc… And my ears hurt for hours! They definitely showed their true colours and I worked so hard to focus on anything other than my ears. I had to. It would have drove me crazy. Thankfully, it did go away. But since I was alone all day, I hadn’t used my voice. And it was later, when I had a phone call, I noticed that when I talked, my throat felt dryer and dryer. To the point that anything I said, I would have to cough after. Oh boy…
Now today, Monday morning, is the first day I’ve ever, on my own accord, called in sick to work. This morning, I had no voice. My ears are fine today, but my throat felt like it had been scorched. I’m a teacher, and I normally talk all day. I had hardly talked at all yesterday, and yet my throat was paying me for it. It actually was so bad, it woke me up at 3:30 in the morning. And I haven’t been able to fall asleep all day. My throat is horrible. All the hot honey drinks in the world don’t seem to be able to touch this. I had to leave my apartment today to venture to the store and get throat lozenges. I’m almost finished one pack, and even those don’t seem as effective as I’d hoped they would be.
It seems like each day of this mystery cold/flu/sickness has a new symptom, or at least an increased symptom each day. I have no idea what it is, but I’m glad I’m on the lesser end of it. Now on to recovery!
Take the necessary precautions! It’s flu season!
Calm in Christ and Fitness 