So last weekend, my brother and his family came to visit. We had a lovely time, despite the fact that they all had colds.
You see where this is going already, don’t you?
But to really understand this, you have to know that when I get a cold, I usually have a week of being utterly miserable and unable to do much of anything, followed by six to twelve weeks of sounding like death while actually feeling pretty good. During this phase, all my friends make nuisances of themselves, telling me to nap and see a doctor and take Vitamin C. (I complained about this once to one, pointing out that this is the usual progression for me and they should be used to it by now. She gave me this look and said, “Pat, normal people don’t get colds like that!”)
So. My brother and family leave, and after a few days, I think I’ve dodged the bullet. No congestion, no feeling like death, just a little tired. So I drive to Chicago to see my Dad and spend a pleasant (?) couple of days doing paperwork and finding paint for the roofers (for the trim that needed replacing where the raccoon got in…trust me, you don’t want to know). And on the last day, about an hour before I leave to drive home…wham! I made it home, but I still haven’t unpacked the trunk of the car.
Apparently, this cold has, like many businesses during this recession, decided to improve its efficiency as a way of coping with the downturn. None of this stuffy-head nonsense; it went straight for the lungs. If I normally sound like death warmed over, today I sound like death that’s three weeks past the expiration date with fuzzy blue stuff an inch long growing out of it in the back of the refrigerator. (Erm…not that I have anything like that in my refrigerator, you understand. Really.)
And before you, like everyone else I know, says “Get to a doctor!!!”, let me point out that a) it’s the weekend, and b) it’s a cold. Last I checked, they still can’t actually do anything about colds except say “Go home and drink fluids.” Which I don’t need to pay money to hear, especially since I’m already home, swallowing buckets of lemon tea with honey. And Vitamin C and soup and all sorts of other good-for-what-ails-you stuff.
So I am now going to go make myself another cup of tea and then head back to bed instead of working on any of the many worthy projects I’m supposed to be doing. Life is like that, sometimes, especially when fuzzy blue stuff from the back of the refrigerator is involved.
My fullest sympathies.
Harumpf. My virtual chillies did not arrive. They were a necessary ingredient of that comment.
Ummm . . . in my experience when it goes into the lungs it isn’t just a cold any longer. My prayers for your quick recovery. 🙂
Greenknight, berryblu–thanks for the good wishes. It’s coming along; another couple of days and I should be recovered enough to start whinging about which project to work on next. Meanwhile, the cats are very pleased that their human seems to *finally* have got the concept of sleeping 22 hours out of 24.
Hope you feel better soon. (Your cats won’t like me for that!)But one good thing- I know there are only spoken of but elusive ‘good things’ about colds, but this is really one!- if you are not writing books… read some! Your to-read list might just need some checking up on. My sympathies, though..
Oh, I hope you feel better soon! I recognise the “You should go to a doctor”-tiresomness; after every cold, I suffer a lengthy cough – very boring, and it doesn’t get any better by people telling me to go to the doctor. I’m not going through the nuisance this involves, and paying someone to tell me what I already knew – that I have a cough… Sigh. Sympathies.
Actually, once I had to go to the doctor, because I was still too sick to go to work. First they tried to fob me off with a nurse. I told her I had a cold and I needed sick-leave. She asked me what was wrong with me. So I told her the details. She told me I had a cold and needed a rest… I refrained from saying anything nasty, or “yes, I just told you that” or “well, I don’t think work is the best place to rest, do you? I’ve noticed, myself, that people at work expect you to – well, I don’t know – work.” Sorry about the lengthy comment – I just remembered… and this particular experience – with some others – also help to explain why I’m never over-anxious to go to a doctor. 🙂
Hope you’re feeling better soon. Colds have the worst habit of hitting when you’re down, so you spend all this time looking forward to catching a break and then…
i take advantage of every cold i have. sorta like a silver lining, being sick gives you an excuse to stop working and curl up with a great book and spent hours in one place 🙂