Living the Dream

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Days Verse:
in Him we live and move and exist…
Acts 17:28
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The flu is really an amazing disease. Not only does it confine you to your bed for a full 10 days, but it has such an abundance of symptoms that I have kept wondering Am I sick with something else? The answer remains No, despite the fact that since getting the flu, I have experienced:

1. Sore throat
2. Agonizing back-of-the-head headache
3. Full body aching
4. Fever of up to 103.8°F
5. Eyes hurting/feeling dry
6. Increasingly — impressively– runny nose
7. Side-of-the-head headache that felt like spikes driving into my temple
8. Teeth hurting
9. Inner ears hurting
10. Face/front-of-the-head headache
11. Dizziness
12. Nausea (from my head, not my stomach, if you can imagine that)
13. Bloodshot, itchy eye (like the start of pink eye)
14. Clogged ears
15. General headache
16. Utter exhaustion for a full 10 days
17. Disinclination for food

I list these in no particular order, although two solid days Tylenol quickly ended the fever, which never returned. By impressively runny nose, I mean that I used up three full, new boxes of Kleenex, plus one half-full box, not counting the nose blowing I did into wash cloths and toilet paper (Ian had to make an emergency run to obtain more Kleenex the other day; I have made good headway into two of the four boxes he brought home). In four or so days I consumed 2 1/2 cups of lemon juice and almost 32 oz of honey. I listened to all of Lord of the Rings on tape (MP3, really), all of Ian’s Sam Spade episodes, and a good number of episodes of The Shadow. I watched five movies and read two or three books (with a headache and sore eyes, I mostly spent my time propped up in bed, eyes closed, listening to Ian’s iPod).

I am still sick 12 days after feeling my first symptom (sore throat). However, this feels like the middle of a nasty cold, rather than the hit-by-a-train flu feeling. Comparatively, I feel almost perky for the first time — not near my usual energy level, but closer than I ever got for the last almost two weeks. I hope that continued heavy use of various decongestant methods combined with consistent fluid consumption and more rest will see me healthy enough to go to work on Monday.

I had a dream last night about riding my bike. I hope, but do not expect, to resume riding very soon. This is the longest time I have spent off-bike (for excellent reason, mind!) in months, perhaps in over a year. It will hurt starting again, but I now feel well enough that just the thought of riding a bike doesn’t leave me exhausted. I look forward to moving again, even in the freezing cold.

Let me say this in conclusion: I will never, ever mistake the flu for a cold again.