Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Coughing up a Lung

I'm sick, so so so sick of being sick. I've been sick since Saturday night. It started off as just an itchy throat sort of cough. Throughout the night it turned into the chills. If you've never had the displeasure of a firsthand account of the chills, imagine your bones are sheathed in ice and the cold radiates through your body. no amount of external heat penetrates to your frozen core. I think the chills are the closest thing we have to absolute zero.

By sunday morning I had gotten around an hours worth of intermittent, restless dozing. I had a fever and a cough that shredded my throat while simultaneously pumping pressure into my skull. The chills were so bad I took a scalding hot bath and it felt lukewarm. I took 2 of those before 8:3oA at which time I called in to work. Nope. I was going to have to come in, I had gotten sick at work so being contagious wasn't an issue, since my boys are all cooped up together anyway, there were already 4 more boys on bed rest since the night before. I came in for a half hour while i waited for someone to take over for me. I came home and spent a few hours in a state of suspended consciousness, neither asleep or awake. I thought 'hey this might be a good opportunity to get some homework done" no way. I read the first sentence of the chapter about 23 times and couldn't coax any meaning from it. somewhere in this time it became monday and then that passed and now its tuesday night. I'm feeling a lot better now. But my lungs are ready to collapse. I have the sensation of bits of my lung being torn out with each cough. my congestion is so bad I am experiencing limited range of motion in my chest, I can't breathe in too much air or I feel my lungs crackling. I can't exert myself too much when I sit up or my ribs feel like they'll shatter.

In the past two days I've downed 2 gallons of Gatorade, 3 sleeves of saltines, 2 family sized cans of chicken noodle soup and enough dope to sedate a mormon family/small army.

I must be over hydrated now, because while I am trying to enjoy LOST, I have to pause it every 15 or 20 minutes to run downstairs to the bathroom. One good thing is that I haven't been vomiting or... you know... the other.

All this sickness has got me anticipating my full recovery and I've decided to set some goals that will help me to appreciate and improve my health. (I don't do well with goals, so don't laugh, these are attainable, not ideal.)

2 hours a week at the gym (weekends don't count, but I sometimes work out with my boys.)
start swimming.
start holding my breath (I'll do this while driving, which ups the stakes should I pass out before I reach my goal.)
and last but not least, morning and evening yoga. I have already picked it up again but I'm going to commit to consistency.

some non health-related goals I have been pondering...
Get my Passport already
Start budgeting for a big springtime purchase(plus helmet).
Be happy.



wish me luck.

oh, and I was just kidding about holding my breath while driving.

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