One early spring Saturday, I woke up with a killer sore throat. A stuffy nose quickly evolved. By Sunday I was coughing up stuff, getting hoarse, and generally feeling like a wet rag. Calling in sick Monday was not an option short of critical illness, so I chased some miso soup with nasty-cherry bedtime cold potion and crashed early.
WYFP is our community's Saturday evening gathering to talk about our problems, empathize with one another, and share advice, pootie pictures, favorite adult beverages, and anything else that we think might help. Everyone and all sorts of troubles are welcome. May we find peace and healing here. Won't you please share the joy of WYFP by recommending?
Miraculously, it worked. I woke up feeling pretty fine. My throat wasn't as sore, the cough was abating, and I didn't have a fever. I declared myself fit for duty and started getting ready for work. At some point Jaco woke up and started pawing at my knee to play.
"Let's play." No words required.
My first words of the week were, "Jaco, down." Except they came out in a tinny croak neither he nor I could hear. He tried to hug me and I tried to laugh, but that was a croak too.
I tried one more time, but it was clear: I could talk fine, except that nothing audible came out. Aside of whispering, I was incapable of verbal communication. Being a good soldier, I went to work anyway. I'm a woman of few words on a good day. How bad could it be?
It turns out I do a lot more talking than I realized! Try explaining an invasive procedure to a patient, or talking them through it, with no more than a whisper. Even stranger, a few co-workers whispered back, as if I was doing it on purpose. Which led me to strain to explain "I have laryngitis" before dissolving in a coughing fit.
And forget the phone. You can't whisper on the phone, especially in a hospital. Someone might call security. You can't whisper your order in a busy cafeteria either; fortunately soup and popsicles are self-serve.
That afternoon, I made my way to the employee clinic for a checkup. My rapid strep test came back negative, my symptoms pronounced "just a bad cold." Cleared again for duty, I finished my shift and went home to find DH in bed with a cough and fever. I made some more soup and went to bed early, too.
We limped through the rest of the week. My manager let me leave early Tuesday. Wednesday I gave in and stayed in bed all day. Thursday wore me out all over again. This was not a cold and it was starting to worry me.
My phone rang just as I sat down at my desk on Friday. It was the PA I'd seen at the clinic on Monday. Although the rapid strep test was negative, the lab culture came back positive. She was calling antibiotics in to the pharmacy. No wonder I felt like hell -- I was walking around with a strep infection for almost a week :( Hubby and I are both fine now, except for allergies. It's been raining for two days so I'm sure there's all kinds of pollen waiting to fly.
Have you been visited by spring crud and/or allergies? WYFP tonight? The floor is yours...