skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Well, surprise, surprise. Looks like I'm a freak of nature. Or at least that's how I feel.
I had a good weekend. I was out and about. I felt 85% of my normal self. Besides being unable to stand through the worship sequence at church Sunday morning, I lived life in a typical way for me.
But this morning I was feeling somewhat under the weather again. I decided to go to school, though for my one-hour staff meeting and one-hour class. Darren's advice was, "Sit down while you're teaching." That was my plan.
But I didn't make it to either of those appointments. Before going to the office I had to purchase a parking permit for the semester. (Since I've been off for 2 weeks, I hadn't done that yet.) So I parked in the 15 min. visitor's parking area, walked to the Ancillary Office to pay the ridiculous fee to leave my car unattended on school property, and immediately sat down. I felt weak and faint and warm - not good signs. I was promptly cared for - whisked away to the campus health centre by wheelchair, analyzed, deliberated over, and sent to the minor emergency walk-in clinic at a local hospital.
My ride and I spent the afternoon there, waiting to be seen and then waiting for the results of my urine and blood tests, which showed that I am not dehydrated, nor do I have worrisome levels of salt, potassium, etc. in my system. Basically I'm fine, but I can't stand for more than 6 minutes at a time or walk across the college on my own.
I am so frustrated. I really thought I was over this thing. And the worst part is that Darren had a day that rivaled mine for "crappiest day" and I don't have much sympathy (empathy? support? you know what I mean) in me tonight...just lots and lots of frustration. So I'm both healthy-sick and a lousy wife. Grrr!
A few weeks ago our friend Chrissy was over for an evening of catching up and Carcassonne. As as aside, I think this may be the first game that I actually prefer playing with just 2 players. We first played Carcasonne with my sister & brother-in-law and whomever else was over at the time. We enjoyed it immensely but when we got home and acquired our own copy, we were afraid that it would be significantly less fun with a smaller group. But we found just the opposite; the strategy changes with the number of participants, but I think I enjoy it more with only 2 or 3.
Ok, back to the story at hand. While Darren was playing a few rounds of some video game (Zelda, maybe?) and I was making a pot of tea, Chrissy wrote a beautiful poem with our Magnetic Poetry that I think deserves to be shared with the six people who read this blog. My favourite part of the poetry writing was when Chrissy asked if I had any 'creepy' adjectives. I guess she didn't realize that this particular set of magnetic poetry is the romance kit that I bought Darren for Valentine's Day last year.
Without further ado, here you go:
If you would like to make your own poem, check out Magnetic Poetry online here.
The sickness saga continues. This morning began with a long debate about whether or not I had the strength to do any of the following:
(a) drive myself to and from work in the winter storm,
(b) teach my one hour of class today, or
(c) not faint between the time I arrive at work and the time I come home. I finally decided that chances were slim that I could accomplish all 3 of those basic tasks given the way I felt at that moment, and as I started writing an email to my boss including a lesson for someone else to teach, he called me to inform me that the power had gone out at the school and classes were canceled. That was the good news of the day.
Talking with my boss helped me realize that at this point it's probably not enough to rely on what the computer at telehealth thinks I have, so I decided to pay a visit to my doctor. Getting there is a story in itself, since Darren took the car to school today. I realized that I have few relationships that are at the calling-for-favours-such-as-driving-me-to-a-doctor's-appointment-level. I've got to work on that.
But I was disappointed to hear what the doctor had to say, once I made it there. Apparently I have gastro-somehting-itis, which is in fact a virus, and which she expects will take 2 weeks to get over. According to my doctor, 11% of the St. Catharines workforce is out sick. She said I'd probably need the rest of the week at home. I'm hoping to be back Wednesday, at least for the 3 hours that I actually teach.
So that's the latest. Hopefully I'll have more interesting things to write about soon.
Since we're already into week 3 of 2007, I figure it's time for a little update from Larissa. Except for a trip to church & Quizno's today, I haven't left the apartment since Wednesday, and that was something I totally regretted.
The new semester started on Monday, mostly as usual. I met my 2 new classes, did some introductory stuff and bid them all, "see you tomorrow." That evening I felt a cold coming on so I took a little nap before getting ready for class the next day. In the morning I got myself ready for work, but after a less-than-pleasurable bathroom experience and much debating about the state of my stomach/head/entire body, on the way out the door I decided to give a colleague a call to get her to cover my classes.
After spending the day in bed (well, between bed and bathroom), I felt much better, so Tuesday morning I got myself ready for work, drove Darren to school and proceeded to drive myself to Welland. About half an hour later, a wave of faintness came over me and I could do nothing but put my head down and try to remain conscious. It was then that a colleague came in to help. A sports beverage, multiple suggestions and much discussion later it was decided that I could neither work nor drive myself home (apparently faint-headed people shouldn't drive in the snow...or in any weather condition, for that matter).
The next thing I now I was being driven to another colleague's house, tucked into bed and cuddled by a big black (lab?) puppy. At the end of the work day, the homeowner returned with news that the colleague who had driven me there (and covered my class) was picking up Darren so he could drive our car - and me - home. I felt so grateful and embarrassed to have caused such a commotion. But mostly grateful.
A call to telehealth on Thursday confirmed that I had a virus and a call to my boss suggested that I take until the end of the weekend to recover. Which I did. Except that this morning again I felt some of the weakness of this crazy virus, but with the help of my husband a successful trip to church ensued! Now for a little more rest and some lesson planning before we try again tomorrow.
Don't get me wrong - this hasn't been the worst week of my life; there have been moments of joy. Darren has humoured me and we've played a few games of Carcassonne, in the last of which I beat him by 3 points after he farmed a 50-point-area. (I realize that will make sense to very few of you, but those of you who can decipher it, you know the joy I felt!) Also, I witnessed for the first time in my life triangular ice pellets today. (see Darren's post for further clarification). And I realized just how fabulous my coworkers are after the way they banded together to take care of me when I was foolish enough to deny the fact that I was sick. Hopefully we won't have a repeat performance tomorrow when I attempt to teach again.
Posts
