I
have a cold. I haven’t been sick since
the dawn of the dinosaurs. It
seems. I’M NOT REALLY THAT OLD BE QUIET
It’s
been a slow burn, this sick. It started
the week of Thanksgiving with an innocent dry cough that would come and go with
no warning, belligerent in its effect on a quiet moment but quickly forgotten.
Then,
as soon as I remembered that it went away, it came back as a sinus and chest
congestion combo that took turns with symptoms: today, a headache. Tomorrow, a wicked rumbling cough. The next day, a few sniffles and sneezes.
Many
people in our area have had this particular brand of sickness recently. Everyone has the same story. It hangs on for a month. I am well within this time frame. I hate myself for being so common. It seems I
am not above the law of seasonal cold-catching, even though I haven’t been sick
in recent years and isn’t it something – I got a flu shot this year for the
first time in a long time and I got sick.
Let’s not dwell on this.
The
arrival of this illness in dribs and drabs has served only to slow me down, not
lay me out entirely. It is Christmas,
after all. No time to be under the
weather. Jesus’ birthday waits for no
one, especially one with a wittle cold.
So I try, haphazardly, to fight it.
I
guzzled the expired cough syrup languishing in the back of our medicine
cupboard to get relief from the hacking.
Leftover cough-and-cold medicine that one of the kids took at the beginning of the school year soothed my occasional headache. I
finally gave in and bought some heavy-duty congestion pills to loosen up the
crunk that I imagine enrobes the soft parts of my chest cavity.
They
are all gone. I am still sick. Sort of.
![]() |
Please enjoy this picture of my used tissues and cold cup of coffee. Yup. Those are actual used tissues. Little known effect of having a cold? Apathy. |
I
drink fluids, wash my hands, and repeat.
I blow my nose, suck on cough drops, lie on the couch and turn on the
TV. Don’t we fight colds when we rest? The DVR is clear.
Luckily
the internet is here to save the day for the Christmas shopping that would
certainly be neglected if it was 2007. I
have only the energy to get a little excited that most of the purchases I’ve
made are shipped for free. I grab a wad
of tissues and sit on the floor in my room with the wrapping supplies left over
from last year and cut and fold paper to hide the items that just minutes
before were delivered to our front porch.
It’s
all that can be done until this sick is gone.
The bare minimum. The schedule
looms, threatening to overwhelm with the many huge things that we have going
on. I pick one and say no. Another is cancelled. The rest are holding fast to their positions,
like soldiers on the winning side in a war zone or that last five pounds of
baby weight you still haven’t lost even as your children are careening toward
the high school years. My house is
dirty, and will be dirtier next week when my family visits. Eh, maybe they won’t notice that the toilets
haven’t been scrubbed in weeks.
Being
sick has infected me with indifference.
My
head feels like it’s filling up again. I
pop another cold pill, heat up some water for tea, lie down, and figure out
what to cook for dinner tonight. Maybe
the cookies won’t get baked this year. I
figure I’m a week behind in my Christmas preparations. I don’t even care. Will the kids notice if they don’t have
stockings this year? Hoping to be free
of this cold soon, I send out telepathic messages to the universe.
*******
Oh, goodness....it just hit here, and I'm having a freak out... NO TIME FOR THIS!!! I can't imagine dealing with it for a month! You poor girl!! Hope it's gone soon!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's one of those things that you feel better a few random times a day, followed by feeling that you will never be normal again. It's a medium-functioning cold. That nobody welcomes or deals with gracefully.
DeleteI'm so sorry that you're sick at all, much less during the holidays. We made cookies this weekend and I feel sick for totally different reasons than you, all of my own doing.
ReplyDeleteHoping you feel better soon.
That is one benefit of being sick - everything tastes like cardboard. So what's the use or fun of shoving cookies into your maw all day long?
DeleteStill, I'm jealous. I'm not sure anyone likes germy cookies, so I'm trying not to bake any.
FEEL BETTER!!!
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU. I hope so, and soon. So far I'm asking for cold medicine for Christmas.
DeleteI am so so sorry you are sick but dang, girl.
ReplyDeleteYou used you illness to incorporate the words crunk and enrobes in a single sentence.
That right there is a win.
Hang in. A month goes by quickly.
(Says the woman who has begun to think menopause doesn't sound so bad...)
The word 'enrobes' grosses me out, which explains it's use to describe what all the crunk is doing.
DeleteThanks for the encouragement. I actually did go to the doc and got some unicorn blood and phoenix-feather serum to kick this cold, so hopefully I'm already on the mend.
And I also think menopause sounds delightful.
Oh my dear Andrea, you poor thing! Feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alison. It's no fun being sick, but especially when the most majestic celebration of all celebrations is coming to my living room soon.
DeleteI'm so sorry you are sick, Andrea. I loved how you still managed to fit in some thankfulness - the convenience of doorstep delivery definitely eliminate the need to bundle up and join the herds at the mall. A much saner, and do-able, alternative.
ReplyDeleteFeel better soon.
Thanks, Tammy! Hopefully I will be up and running to my regular frantic pace soon. xoxo
DeleteDoesn't it kinda suck that we have to get sick to catch up on our t.v. watching?! Hope you're feeling much better soon, my dear! xo
ReplyDeleteThanks Elaine! That does really suck! I never thought about it before. TV watching deserves more of my attention in general.
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