I was finishing work and looking forward to some basketball with a group of friends at the church afterwards. I felt tired. More than just from work. I drove over to the chapel thinking that something didn't feel right. Oh well, I need to exercise. Basketball was fine and when I got home I climbed into bed exhausted.
Day 2
I've been infected. My first swallow of the day was painful. Repeated swallowing and drinking water didn't help at all, and I knew what that meant. I started taking whatever vitamins or pills I could find in my medicine cabinet and went to work. Usually I work out on Tuesdays and Thursdays after work but not today. All I wanted to do was rest. Sore throat was consistently painful with swallowing and at rest. And now I started to feel generally ill. In addition to all the vitamins I had, I found some baby carrots in the fridge and started downing those too.
Day 3
Why am I so dizzy when I stand up or turn fast? I shouldn't go to work today, but I need the wellness day bonus I'll get if I can just hold out till January without calling in sick. Not only did my head feel warm but my voice had dropped a couple octaves overnight. Several staff members would say something to me just to listen to my voice as I replied. They thought it was sooo funny. By mid afternoon I had no voice left. One patient told me I should whisper and save the vocal cords. Someone else told me later that whispering is worse for the vocal cords. Plenty of advice to drink tea or honey. Work was horrible. Never before did I count the hours down to when I could leave. Usually I am roasting in the clinic but not today. I had the temperature set at 74 degrees and zipped up my winter coat around me. Thankfully a co-worker said that she would lock up and that I could leave early. Once at home I realize that I can't get warm. I think of jumping in the shower and stand there for 20 min under hot water. Hours later, I would be using cold packs to cool my head. Baby carrots, vitamin C, and tons and tons of water.
Day 4
Thanksgiving. Last night was the worst of it. The fever was reduced although i still felt ill from my head to my stomach. I was up half of the night wretching and hacking up a lung. I figured I was half way out of it. Spent most of the day resting. A friend was nice to bring me some Thanksgiving dinner leftovers from her family dinner. Was up again in the middle of the night coughing and staring at the sink.
Day 5
Spent way too much time trying to find help for work at 7AM. Ended up going in for a few hours but with no voice i was at a loss and my patients and I just enjoyed the silence. More cough syrup, pills, drops, water, baby carrots. Was only up for 2-3 hours last night. Read a good bit in Count of Monte Cristo while I hacked up the other lung. Up again 20x to use the restroom from all the water I have been drinking.
Day 6
I need to get out of here. But its freezing outside. Fever is reduced again but stomach feels so heavy. Mucinex DMX works the best. Panera was a good dinner and Theraflu is nowhere to be found at CVS or Giant. Airborne is yummy. Surely this think can't hold on much longer to my throat. Patience. At nighttime the tigers come to tear your throat apart. Coughing attacks last longer, with my lungs hacked up, I hacked up my stomach next. So sore in my obliques but look how toned they are getting from all this coughing! My vocal cords feel beaten and raw.
Day 7
Drempt of coughing, woke up coughing, went back to sleep coughing, and first thing I realized when I awoke again was that I was coughing. Stomach is sore from coughing so much. Made it as long as I could through church before my coughing attacks overwhelmed my cough drops and water breaks. Here I sit, taking $50 of cough syrups, and vitamins, and immune boosters (The Armada {see below}) and still have no voice. This surely can't last much longer. But there is no way I can work like this tomorrow. Having coughing attacks for minutes at a time and being left with a bunch of mucous and a more sore throat. This has definitely been a change of pace and was not how I was planning on spending thanksgiving weekend.
In all of my sleepless nights and thinking about this past week. I would like to share a few things I have learned:
1. Cherry cough drops are better for sore throats, honey lemon are better cough suppressants.
2. I thankful for so many things. With thanksgiving to remind me of the blessings I have been given. I name only a few: My body, how well it works 99% of the time and how often i enjoy good health. I am thankful for the resurrection to have a body that will be immune to my annual fall sore throats. I am also grateful for caring friends who help and serve to make this easier. Thankfulness for this experience in general to learn how to face hard things and grow from it.
3. The advice from Elder Bouche came to my mind early on. "When you are physically sick, tired, or in despair, steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them, in gratitude and love, toward God. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snAjZ8mfoYw ) No need to focus excessively on your own suffering.
4. Just as we need to serve, we need to allow ourselves to be served.
5. In life there need to be challenges. Elder Scott said it best in a 1995 Conference Talk, "When you face adversity, you can be led to ask many questions. Some serve a useful purpose; others do not. To ask, Why does this have to happen to me? Why do I have to suffer this, now? What have I done to cause this? will lead you into blind alleys. It really does no good to ask questions that reflect opposition to the will of God. Rather ask, What am I to do? What am I to learn from this experience? What am I to change? Whom am I to help? How can I remember my many blessings in times of trial? Willing sacrifice of deeply held personal desires in favor of the will of God is very hard to do. Yet, when you pray with real conviction, “Please let me know Thy will” and “May Thy will be done,” you are in the strongest position to receive the maximum help from your loving Father." (Trust in the Lord - Ensign Nov. 1995)
6. The real challenge for discipleship comes when "the instrument of our mind, and the foundation of our character" is not working correctly, and we are faced with temptations, challenges, and other external adversities.
7. The Savior has been there, knows all, and cares still. He can heal more than just a body.
"The Armada"
