Day Five of Utter Hell

Day One: Friday. I felt a cough coming on. Figured, oh well, better take come cough medicine.

Day Two: Saturday. I woke up in intense pain all over my body. I was coughing more and had an alternately stuffy/runny nose and some chest congestion, but I could withstand those symptoms. But the back pain was blinding. I took some cold medicine with painkillers.

Day Three: Sunday. I felt like I couldn’t move. I felt incredibly weak all over. Bright lights hurt my eyes. I was so cold and unable to get warm, even in bed with the electric blanket cranked all the way up. I took the hottest bath I had even taken in my life because my skin was so cold. I got out of the tub and almost passed out. Instead, I just lay on the floor for a while with the towel around me, wondering if I could yell loudly enough to get Seppo’s attention. After several minutes of whimpering on the floor, I realized that I was getting colder again and somehow got myself dressed and back into bed. My head spun and I felt so weak. I felt like I understood for the first time how harsh the flu can be on old people and on children. I was alternating between being too cold and breaking out into a sweat all day.

Day Four: Monday. Luckily, I had Monday off, so I didn’t have to worry about missing work. I woke up on Monday feeling tons better. I felt my body kicking back in its ability to generate some body heat on its own sometime during the night. I woke up and I was able to get out of bed and answer the phone. I was able to make breakfast for Seppo and me. (Seppo and I had been alternating who was taking care of whom based on who felt crappier at the time; he had almost fully recovered by Friday, but had a relapse.) I even went outside to pick some mint for honey-mint tea. I felt like I was gonne be 100% by Tuesday. The worst symptom I had was sinus pressure and pain from congested nasal passages, but some other cold medicine took care of that.

Day Five: Tuesday. I woke up and it was like Saturday all over again. Arg. Maybe yesterday was like Seppo’s false recovery on Friday.

And of course, there are things I really must get done for work, so I am working from home today. I just hope I can focus enough.