EN OS Week 2, Part 1

I am ill.  I don’t get ill.  Other people get ill.  That was why I fought so hard when I went on my little cancer adventure.  Gen does not get ill.  And, if I do end up a bit under the weather, I tough it out.  It takes A LOT for me to admit that I’m ill.

So, when I woke up with a scratchy throat and a stuffy nose the other day, I thought it must be allergies.  As a person who is new to the allergy game, I still haven’t figured out when they strike.  With all this wacky, warm weather in January, I figured it’s possible that stuff is blooming really early, triggering an earlier than normal commencement of allergy season.

Alas, such was not the case.  Day 2, I woke up with the aforementioned symptoms as well as sneezing and a runny nose.  Yesterday, the cough and itchy ears started.  I managed to get through my bike workout.  I was not entirely jazzed about doing it, but I had positioned my running shoes next to my bike as motivation.  I would occasionally glance longingly over at them, telling myself, "Only one more interval.  Only thirty more minutes.  Only ten more minutes.  Okay, you’re done.  Time to run!"  Only, when it was time to run, I wasn’t super-jazzed about running either.  I dutifully put on my running shoes though and headed out for my short and easy fifteen minute run. 

I did my stretching, took a shower, got out, and got dressed.  I was planning on icing my knees and soaking my foot in Epsom salts when the shivering started.  Uh-oh.  My body felt hot and cold at the same time and, I was attempting to hack up a lung.  I checked my temp – 102.1.  Really?  That couldn’t be!  I did the thermometer four different times and each time yielded the same thing.  I had to admit it; I was sick.

I hate being sick.  I’m too busy to be sick.  Joe and the kids need me.  I can’t be sick.  Who was going to make dinner?  What would Joe say when he got home to dirty breakfast dishes still in the sink?  Frankly, at that point, my GSF was pretty low.  And, to be perfectly honest, Joe probably wouldn’t have noticed, being more concerned about my well being than a bunch of syrup-encrusted plates piled in the sink.

Louie, my new nurse-cat

I rummaged in our vast stores of medicines from when I was going through chemo.  Surely, I had something that would knock out my symptoms.  Ah, here was a little Nyquil.  Here were some assorted allergy/cold meds.  I settled on the Sudafed since that had the ingredients that my body was craving to get all the crap out of my system; I would save the Nyquil for bedtime. 

I downed two capsules with a full glass of water – I get soooo dehydrated when I take antihistamines.  YUCK!!!  I filled up a water bottle, popped Pride and Prejudice in the Blue-Ray, and proceeded to collapse into a fitful slumber.  I woke at regular intervals with a hacking fit and then would fall back to sleep.  At two-thirtyish, my body decided it might be a little hungry so I ate a banana and a turnip and drank copious amounts of tea. 

By dinnertime, I was feeling somewhat more human so I dragged myself into the kitchen and made dinner.  Joe offered to go and get something, but I had things in the fridge that needed to be used up.  It’s one of those weeks where I cook two of something and then make two different recipes.  Joe and kids could have probably handled making lasagna, but not picadillo. 

Michelle came home from school with the same symptoms that I did and went right to bed.  Poor kid.  If I looked anything like she did, I looked pretty awful.  I actually did sit down to dinner with Joe, Jamie and Josie, but I really wanted to just lie back down.  I haven’t felt like that since chemo.  What in the heck was wrong with me?  Why was this silly cold knocking me for such a loop???

I think it’s residual effects of the chemo and the chemo-induced asthma.  While I feel great most of the time, I’ve noticed that it does take me a bit longer to recover from things than it used to.  Since I’m such an asthma/allergy newbie, I guess that just falls along the same line.  Like the straight hair that I ended up with after chemo, this is a side effect that I’m not particularly stoked about.  As Mrs. Bennet says, it “vexes me”.  I know, I know.  It’s probably supposed to teach me to slow down, right?  Sorry, but I’m not buying that Kool-aid.

Being that it’s only the second week of the Outseason, I was worried about already missing a workout, so I laid out my clothes for my Wednesday run.  Joe watched me dubiously.  Even this morning, he told me that I could skip this workout and I’d be all right; in fact I ought to skip the workout so that I didn’t end up paying out even more later on.  Our conversation went like this:

            Gen: Do you really think I should skip my run this morning?

            Joe: Yes.  You’ll pay for it later if you try.

            Gen: Are you sure?

            Joe: Yes!  Have you seen yourself?!

            Gen: Eh. I suppose…

Joe: If you really want to do something, just walk for thirty minutes.  Skip the intervals.

Gen: Okay.  I guess you’re right. (Joe is almost always right.)

I did take a good look at myself in the mirror.  I was pale and I had deep circles under my eyes.  I feel like I’ve been beaten with a 2x4 about my ribcage, shoulders, and abs.  My fever is down to only low-grade, but I have a splitting headache and I’m still trying to cough up a lung.  Luckily, both lungs still seem firmly in place.  I have my running clothes on and I did both of my inhalers, coughing between each puff.  I think I will try to walk on the treadmill and see how it goes.  While my symptoms may win out for another day, I’m not going down without a little bit of a fight!  I didn’t when I was going through chemo, so I’m not gonna let a cold take me out either!