Consumption Must Not Be Nice
It is almost 1am. I am up. I am up because my cough is heinous. I breath in (not deeply) and that awful coughing convulsion comes over me. I managed to have a nightmare during the three hours I was trying to sleep. Hurricanes, Puerto Rican spiders, and lost islands featured loudly. Then Philip comes up stairs and asks if I have been coughing (duh! Enough to shake the house!) and I sit up all miserable and listen to his tale of woe. He's been truing up some set of bicycle wheels and was just about done when he noticed something wrong with them...blah blah...I mean I was interested but mostly because we haven't had a regular coversation in over a week. Sitting up made me feel better.
Until I started blowing blood out my nose. But that's been going on all week and the doctor didn't seem at all concerned. Yep, I managed to see a doctor this morning during "clinic" hours so the cost is half as much. Apparently they haven't been hunting us down for past payments either. INFLUENZA. Confirmed. After 8 days of it I'm at the better end and so far I haven't got any secondary infections from it. I came home and drank sage tea.
I admit my body feels quite a bit better. No aching and heavy limbs anymore. Still quite tired. But right now I feel more like I have a really bad cold. I don't feel like I'd rather die or that I'm probably going to die. And I'm wide awake at 1am.
So- what's up with all of you?! I must say Aimee and Jo- influenza while you were pregnant? I hope you complained a lot more than me because I can't even imagine the agony of going through what I just went through with extra cargo on the mother-ship!!!
Maybe I can do some catching up with all of you tomorrow on your blogs. I so appreciate all the good wishes you've been sending me! I also appreciate all the patience you've shown for my deathbed behavior.
The weather here has been gorgeous which means I've missed lots of prime gardening time but I think this is the moment to just go with the flow and realize that it's never too late to garden. It isn't as though I've missed a whole month of planning, planting, and building opportunities. Everything is just heating up. This week I am definitely ordering my elderberries because we get paid and I really feel that elderberries are a necessary addition.
We were going to start a new batch of chicks this year but I'm going to try to convince Philip to wait until next year so we can concentrate on getting things into the ground and established this year. Last spring we were in the middle of buying this house and then moving and then I missed some crucial planting time by going to my Dad's wedding (not regretted Dad!) so this year I think we need to concentrate on garden plan and structure. Chicks are so exciting but it would mean expanding the coop and I don't think we can do everything at once.
Wow, my chest has been quiet and non-heaving for a full five minutes. Like a tiny little miracle!
My mind is on herbs quite a lot too. More sage. i think I just used up all my home dried sage this week. I don't use a ton of sage in general, but it's one of those herbs that I do believe you should always have plenty of on hand. I want to drink more tomorrow, I'm secretly hoping that there is a secret stash of it in my cupboard. More thyme since I ran out this week. I need to have at least six thyme plants at all times.
This post is sounding like a grocery list. I'm probably going to watch Firefly to go to sleep to. I'll watch "Jayne's Town" one of my very favorite episodes. ("Shindig" and "Out Of Gas" are my two other favorites besides the Pilot.)
I don't really like being up this late. I would like to be snug and sleepy and not have my eye feel like it has a stick in it. Oh well, it was actually nice to almost feel normal again for a few minutes. I hope to be back to my regular scheduled programming very soon. But I promised my sister I would take it easy and so I will.
Lots of hugs to you all. I hope you're in bed right now as comfortable as possible having dreams without Puerto Rican spiders in them.
Until I started blowing blood out my nose. But that's been going on all week and the doctor didn't seem at all concerned. Yep, I managed to see a doctor this morning during "clinic" hours so the cost is half as much. Apparently they haven't been hunting us down for past payments either. INFLUENZA. Confirmed. After 8 days of it I'm at the better end and so far I haven't got any secondary infections from it. I came home and drank sage tea.
I admit my body feels quite a bit better. No aching and heavy limbs anymore. Still quite tired. But right now I feel more like I have a really bad cold. I don't feel like I'd rather die or that I'm probably going to die. And I'm wide awake at 1am.
So- what's up with all of you?! I must say Aimee and Jo- influenza while you were pregnant? I hope you complained a lot more than me because I can't even imagine the agony of going through what I just went through with extra cargo on the mother-ship!!!
Maybe I can do some catching up with all of you tomorrow on your blogs. I so appreciate all the good wishes you've been sending me! I also appreciate all the patience you've shown for my deathbed behavior.
The weather here has been gorgeous which means I've missed lots of prime gardening time but I think this is the moment to just go with the flow and realize that it's never too late to garden. It isn't as though I've missed a whole month of planning, planting, and building opportunities. Everything is just heating up. This week I am definitely ordering my elderberries because we get paid and I really feel that elderberries are a necessary addition.
We were going to start a new batch of chicks this year but I'm going to try to convince Philip to wait until next year so we can concentrate on getting things into the ground and established this year. Last spring we were in the middle of buying this house and then moving and then I missed some crucial planting time by going to my Dad's wedding (not regretted Dad!) so this year I think we need to concentrate on garden plan and structure. Chicks are so exciting but it would mean expanding the coop and I don't think we can do everything at once.
Wow, my chest has been quiet and non-heaving for a full five minutes. Like a tiny little miracle!
My mind is on herbs quite a lot too. More sage. i think I just used up all my home dried sage this week. I don't use a ton of sage in general, but it's one of those herbs that I do believe you should always have plenty of on hand. I want to drink more tomorrow, I'm secretly hoping that there is a secret stash of it in my cupboard. More thyme since I ran out this week. I need to have at least six thyme plants at all times.
This post is sounding like a grocery list. I'm probably going to watch Firefly to go to sleep to. I'll watch "Jayne's Town" one of my very favorite episodes. ("Shindig" and "Out Of Gas" are my two other favorites besides the Pilot.)
I don't really like being up this late. I would like to be snug and sleepy and not have my eye feel like it has a stick in it. Oh well, it was actually nice to almost feel normal again for a few minutes. I hope to be back to my regular scheduled programming very soon. But I promised my sister I would take it easy and so I will.
Lots of hugs to you all. I hope you're in bed right now as comfortable as possible having dreams without Puerto Rican spiders in them.
Comments (8)
oh, honey. so exhausting...I really hope this week brings a good leap of improvement each day, but here we are a month later and Ty still gets wracked with coughing fits a couple of times a day. I still can't quite believe the rest of us didn't get taken down by the bug.
We were going to order chicks, but all of my girls have diarrhea right now and one has a floppy crown. I'm running to get antibiotics today. I don't know. We need to move the tractor but it was frozen in place. Going to move them over to one of the garden beds next door...get them working the soil there. It's supposed to warm up this weekend. I think they're just on too much bedding and it's really hard to take it out without moving the whole rig. So I'm kind of feeling like we should wait on the chicks, too... also particularly in light of the trouble the shop is in right now. Would be majorly a pain to have to deal with baby chicks if we found ourselves having to relocate. So we'll wait a bit and see. Plus, I'd almost rather get larger pullets and not deal with the cats and the chicks.
adding elderberry to my fruit list. must also plant much more sage and thyme this year, I ran out of my dried of both in January! I think I'll try doing the spring haircut/dehydrate thing you do this year. I usually only start in summer. I am happy to say that for once I still have a freezer full of pesto and we've used it all winter long. Yay!
ok. feel better honey. xoxo.
Posted by kelly | March 14, 2009 6:21 AM
Posted on March 14, 2009 06:21
Yeah! Sounds like you are well on the road to recovery. You have been sorely missed. Don't get too exuberant and wear yourself out. I seem to do that too often. Cheers, tonia
Posted by Tonia | March 14, 2009 8:00 AM
Posted on March 14, 2009 08:00
Good gods almighty have you been hit hard! We have had some nice days but this weekend will be rain, rain and more rain, giving you more time to recover and perhaps not feel too badly about not being outside. Sounds like you'll be towards your better self just in time for spring:-)
and if you send me your address I'd like to send you something.
Posted by Kathy | March 14, 2009 8:57 AM
Posted on March 14, 2009 08:57
Yes, flu while pregnant was one long moaning session, I stayed under the duvet and ignored everyone.
Coughing is really debilitating as you can't get any sleep or rest, the very things you need to get better. Warm honey and lemon drinks maybe?
Jo
Posted by French Knots | March 14, 2009 9:48 AM
Posted on March 14, 2009 09:48
I'm glad you are starting to feel a tad bit better and I hope it's all uphill for you from here on out. Bad coughs are the worst though...I can completely empathize. When I was sick with Valley Fever (A fungus that lives in the soil out here), I had a bronchitis-like cough for 1 month and it was hell. I got a prescription of cough medicine with Codeine and that didn't even help. The only thing that dramatically lessened it was drinking a 1:1 mixture of water and apple cider vinegar. If you can stomach it, it might help you too. Wishing you a quick recovery!
Posted by Kim | March 14, 2009 11:42 AM
Posted on March 14, 2009 11:42
Aww, I hope you feel better soon. I always remind myself that it is okay to take the time to heal. I don't have any clever home remedies to suggest, you know more about that than I, but I will send healing thoughts your way...
My garden is no where near the way I hoped it would be by now, but I just keep doing the little bits I can do. Forward progress by incremental steps is still an improvement.
Posted by alison | March 14, 2009 1:04 PM
Posted on March 14, 2009 13:04
Yikes, Puerto Rican spiders? You must be having those fever-induced dreams. I can't imagine being sick for 8 days. I was sick for 24 hours this week and that was enough for me!!!
I have never seen Firefly - and suspect that I would love it considering I've watched everything else by Whedon.
Posted by Karmyn R | March 14, 2009 3:37 PM
Posted on March 14, 2009 15:37
Mmmm...herbs! I want an herb garden...
Thank goodness you're on the downside of the flu slope. It'll get better from here.
This many years later (it's been 9, I guess...wow), the whole flu-while-pregnant thing doesn't seem that big. (I guess the eclampsia sort of outweighs it - ha!!) I know at the time, though, Jason took me to the ER once my fever soared to its highest, where I tearfully insisted on an ultrasound to check on the baby's status. I spent New Year's Eve bundled up in the recliner (lying down was NOT an option for my head), watching the Steve Irwin marathon and clicking over every hour to watch the big cities around the world usher in 2000. Fireworks in Sydney, Tokyo, Paris, and London dominate my memories of that time.
Posted by Aimee | March 15, 2009 11:58 AM
Posted on March 15, 2009 11:58