Under the weather

Truth be told, this little guy probably looks better than I do right now.  Somewhere between Christmas and New Years I picked up a nasty little alien that has taken over my body and refused to let me have a good night’s sleep. 

I usually try to “tough these things out” with over-the-counter meds but they haven’t worked on this bug and my co-workers have been giving me sideways looks and avoiding me, communicating via email and voice mail and approaching me when they had no other choice in order to hand me something. Can’t say I wouldn’t do the same, if they had this bug instead of me.

Every time I entered the kitchen area, hasty excuses were made about needing to get back to work and my normally chatty co-workers scattered like scared rabbits so I decided maybe I better stop playing doctor and go see one.

I finally got there this afternoon.  My doctor is usually fifteen to twenty minutes behind schedule  but after a robust coughing fit in the lobby when I checked in at the receptionist’s desk, I was quickly wisked into the examining room. 

I was a little worried that I’d be sent for a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia but my lungs are clear and it turns out this is really just a garden variety virus with a few quirky symptoms. The worst being the severe coughing spells.  My doctor said it can also cause diarrhea—and can take as long as three or four weeks to get better---doesn’t that sound like fun?

The treatment she prescribed was what you might expect for a regular cold---rest, fluids cough lozeners, mucinex and an Rx for an inhaler to help the wheezing and bronchial spasms.

Tomorrow afternoon is our company’s Christmas party which has been postponed several times already.  I planned it so I know it’s going to be fun and the food will be great—I just won’t be there and really I don’t mind---going home early tomorrow and taking a long nap on the sofa sounds like a pretty good time to me.