And Then I Wasn't

After I was sick, I got better. And then we jumped right into Christmas. I can honestly say, I didn't mind being sick. I was disappointed to miss Dan's work party and kind of sad to miss the Ward Party and I also had to cancel the Friend's Party I was hosting. And our Annual Book Club dinner at Porcupine Grill. (That was a lot of parties in just one week! In fact, it was all the Christmas parties. It was kind of strange to not have any Christmas parties -- it definitely felt a little less festive than usual.

However, it was also definitely a lot less chaotic. It was kinda nice to lay in bed and watch TV. It would have been even better if I could read, but my brain was literally not capable of thinking. Or moving. On the flip side, I would wake up in the middle of the night and just lay there wide awake, so it gave me lots of time to think over my upcoming talk that I was giving in Church just before Christmas.

Here's what it was like to be so sick: I lay in bed and didn't want to move. Sometimes I'd take Advil to break the fever and sleep better, but then a couple hours later I'd wake up, fever broken, in a lake of sweat from head to toe, FREEZING. I'd have to change my pajamas and move to another part of the bed that wasn't sopping.  When Dan found out I had pneumonia, he moved down to the guest room. That was great because then I had my side, Dan's side, and the middle -- 3 places to move to -- when the bed was drenched.

I coughed so much and so forcefully, I'm not ashamed to say I had to wear Depends. In fact, it was such a relief to have them, I was ever so grateful.

I couldn't eat for days and then started in on soup. I lost weight and wish SOOO much it stayed off. But by the time I was feeling better, I was STARVING. And it was Christmastime, so...

I found out I had pneumonia on Monday. But with antibiotics, by Thursday night I ventured out and picked up Nick from basketball. On Friday I got dressed and ran a couple of errands. I moved slow and took my time. I started lightly exercising a couple of weeks later. But I swear it messed up my brain because I couldn't read a book for quite a few weeks. It seemed too hard!

I watched a ton of TV and really enjoyed it. I don't watch TV that often, but do have shows I like, so I got caught up on them, but soon I got bored of TV.

I. Am. So. Sick.

Thursday the boys were lighting and blowing out Nick's Colonial Day candles he made. I'm seriously super susceptible to smoke (alliteration!). It makes my lungs hurt fast (and I don't even have asthma) and often makes me lose my voice (like that time at Buchart Gardens when all the Asians were smoking and I lost my voice. Or that time on Halloween when Lisa's brother-in-law came trick-or-treating with us and smoked his cigar the whole time. Lost my voice then too.) (I always tell those stories.)

Candles used to not affect me but then I was at Bennions and Tanya said they can't light candles because it affects Jeff's asthma. And seriously, ever since then, regular house candles affected me too. The power of suggestion is real.

So, out of the blue before bed I start to get a little cough. It was weird that it came on so fast. I slathered my special ointment...  I slathered my special, smelly ointment... I slathered my special, smelly ointment suggestively...sorry, no.

I slathered my special, smelly ointment on my neck and chest because that always makes me feel better. But when I woke up the next day, not only was my cough worse, my head felt thick and full and quite frankly, I felt miserable.

But I'd been to Spin class on Wednesday and I intended to go today to "break in my saddle" which is super hard the first week. And I was on a really good roll eating right and exercising. I thought sweating it out might even make me feel better. So powered on by wanting to be healthy, I went to Spin.  And it was hard. I was lacking energy (significantly!... I significantly slathered my special, smelly ointment...) and having a hard time keeping up. But I finished and I got the heck out of there.

(I just thought of something -- I did wipe down my bike. But did I wipe it down good enough? I hope I didn't spread my germs at the gym! But to my credit, I didn't think I had germs at the time.)

On the way home I realized I'd been poisoned by THE CANDLES! That was it! Out of breath, cough, Head cloudy and achy. Same feeling when there were forest fires in L.A.  Now that I knew what the problem was, I knew I just needed to sleep and it would go away.

Got an hour nap before picking up Chris at noon. Took him shopping for goggles and helmet (good deals!) and then got home to take another nap before picking up Nick's carpool.  By then I was freezing. The kids saw me putting on my 3/4 length parka and asked -- are you sick? Why yes, I think I am. I started to suspect that it wasn't the candles after all.  I put on the seat warmers and felt ok.

Had another nap before we took Marty and Thomas to our annual symphony night at dinner at Texas de Brazil. By then I was FREEZING. I couldn't eat a thing, but I didn't want to miss the evening we'd been looking forward too! It was actually fun, but I was relieved when I could climb into bed that night.

The next day I was out all day. They day after that too. All day Monday too. And then I went to Instacare Monday night and discovered it wasn't the flu after all (or the candles), but pneumonia.

And that's where I am today. Still sick.

The First Week of Christmas

I am so proud of myself because I decorated the house for Christmas BEFORE we left to Hawaii. That way when we came home we could slip straight into Christmas season! 

Sometimes I make myself so happy!!

The rest of the week I could just do my fun regular life stuff -- laundry and strength training on Mondays, scripture class on Tuesday and lunch with Jenny and Carol after, Nick to the allergist for his cough, Aunt Marge to the airport, Kids practicing and Homework, The Good Wife with Dan at nights (we just got into that show -- and now we get to binge 7 seasons!), Spin Class on Wednesdays, walking with KT on Thursday, a renewed commitment to no sugar and no white flour (I can't let my good work last year get undone!).

View from mine and KT's walk -- Front house down

I had fun decorating the front porch, sitting with Dan stuffing and stamping the Christmas cards (thanks to Dan who licked them all!), listening to Christmas music each evening, putting finishing touches on decorations.

And then...