Don't underestimate the power of flannel pjs

I'm lying here in bed a little aggravated to find that yes, I do have a rising fever. It's at 100.5 right now, but my normal temperature is around 97 degrees, so I guess I can consider it to be pushing 102. Sheesh, I hope it doesn't get any higher, because I hate the hallucinations that come with that.

I'm also a wee bit annoyed that my dad and brother were here for a couple of hours today (aha! now I know they're waiting until almost time for me to get home from work to start working - no wonder it's taking so long for them to finish the repair they're doing for me) and neither one, noticing how sick I am, asked if there was anything they could do to help me... Not if they could bring me some aspirin from the other bathroom, not a glass of water, nada.

I think they were too busy doing their male bonding, which consists of stuff like I heard through my delirious on-off sleeping today - they argued a lot and very loudly about putting the screws into the sheetrock on the new ceiling beam. Dad was saying that if they did it "that way" that the sheetrock would crack around the screws. My brother was saying that it wouldn't matter anyway because they were going to be putting an eighth-inch of drywall mud over it at the end. I remember thinking that they were both kinda right and then everything went black.

The problem is, I can't be sure exactly what's wrong with me without going to the doctor. Last Friday I got the sore throat and coughing, and by Sunday, I was really starting to feel run down. By Monday, I'm coughing horribly and getting tired and weak. Today, Tuesday, I got up feeling so bad that I decided to ask for a sub the minute I got to work. After one of my coughing spells, the girls in my class started asking (sounding REALLY concerned - I must have gone pale) if I was all right and if there was anything they could do for me. I do know that last night while I was doing the cough-spit-blow nose-snort and spit until my nose and throat were clear- routine I saw some chunks of stuff that looked like bloody flesh. I know, it's really gross to be present when I'm having to do that, but otherwise it all just settles into my lungs and THAT is hard to get out. It's gone from white to clear to yellow to green, so I imagine a visit to my doctor is imminent. Antibiotics, I'm sure, but they do a number on my girly parts so I have to ask for a dose of diflucan this time or I'll be doubly miserable.

I have no idea if I left enough work for the kids, but by the time I finished training the sub (who is so new she didn't even know where the school was and it took her nearly an hour and a half to get there) I was so dead I deferred all questions for the teacher next door to answer and just got the heck outta there. It didn't help me one bit to have to do a crash course in how to be a sub when she got there. I thought they trained all subs before they let them go into a classroom. Apparently they don't and they wait for the sick teacher to do it when they should be on the way home. Oh well, I can't be lucky enough to get Mrs. Betty every time. She's a retired teacher, and a wonderful person, not to mention a wonderful sub. Makes everything a lot easier. One other time I was sicker than this and I had to leave, she came in and told me in her Louisiana accent, "Don't worry honey, I'll find something for them to do. You just go home and get to feeling better."

Okay, maybe the problem is that so many subs were needed today that they just ran dry and this was just how it worked out. I'm just glad they found somebody. I've been a sub... it was no fun. I told the kids to be good this time, or they'd be really sorry when I come back. I hope they realize I'm being dead serious.

Two neighboring counties are closed for the rest of the week due to weather AND flu. Ours is thankfully closed tomorrow because we have our first snow of the year, and it's still snowing. I came home and I was thinking that I'd have a glass of orange juice, but my head was spinning like it had been all morning (I realize now that I'd been in a fog of delirium since waking. and the next thing I knew, it was 20 minutes later and I was waking up fully dressed fallen sideways on my bed. I got up to get a garbage bag for all the used tissues on the floor, got sidetracked by the thought of the juice, opened the fridge door, and passed out on the bed again, with the fridge door still open. LOL I discovered this yet another 20 minutes later when I went back and actually got the juice. Off and on all day I slept, drank juice, and ate a couple of yogurts. Nothing else has much of a taste. I took a drink of my diet Sierra Mist this morning in class and said, ewww, tastes nasty... The kids thought I must have gotten a bad one until I told them everything tastes really bad right now.

I have no idea when my brother and father left after their argument today, because my head was pounding at 4 and I took my heavy migraine meds and went back to a solid state of sleeping. I was alone again when I woke up.

I do know that the construction work here in the house is causing me some serious problems, so last night I went to the store and bought a respirator / particle mask (a real one) and I've had it on a big part of the day today. I was even sleeping in it, and I noticed that my coughing stopped when I did. Maybe it was because I was no longer inhaling the stuff in the air, or maybe it was because I was inhaling air that was slightly moister from the mask. I did have to take it off when I woke up drooling... that was kinda gross.

I'm lying here in my flannel pjs (which automatically seem to add about a +5 feel-better bonus) trying to cool down a little with the ceiling fan on (I know, just stirring dust particles up, but I'm SO hot). I'm also wondering what in the world I have.

It could be a respiratory infection from the work being done in the house (and I'm sensitive to smoke and all that other stuff). Could be strep, which is running rampant through the schools right now. Could be 5th disease, which is also running around. Could be a cold, and it could be the flu, though with my flu shot in the fall, I think the chances of it being flu are lowered. Not eliminated, just lowered.

I've got these symptoms:

• fever
• coughing with lots of mucus which is turning green
• sneezing
• runny nose
• sore throat
• aching
• stuffy head
• horrible taste in my mouth
• bad headache
• earache
• dehydration
• bit of a rash on my chest (is it really a rash? It's weird for it to look this way since my skin is usually clear nowadays. 5th disease causes a rash and red slapped-face look in kids.. what about adults?)

Well, it could be any of those things I mentioned... It could be all. Whatever the case, I'm about to take some liquid Tylenol cold medicine (no alcohol, TYVM) and knock myself out yet again. Being unconscious will have to be better than this, huh? At least I feel like the Tylenol kept me from coughing all night, though i woke up groggy. Could be the sickness doing that though.

• I'm thankful I have that half bathroom here in my bedroom. I don't have to walk through the dusty zone if I don't want to.
• I'm thankful there's no school tomorrow. I can stay asleep without worrying about waking up.
• I'm thankful I went to the store last night for provisions, feeling as bad as I did. Because now I have grape juice, orange juice, milk, yogurt, cold medicine, more Carmex, a plug-in vapo-rub thing, and some apple cider that I can warm up in the microwave for a nice soothing drink.
• I'm thankful that I bought those two big boxes of Kleenex with lotion, because my nose is already raw.
• I'm thankful for my laptop, because I don't have to get out of bed for a little entertainment while I'm sick though I might need to go into the other room for a few DVDs.
• I'm thankful there's nobody else here for me to get sick (or have to take care of) although it would be nice to have someone to take care of me.

Time to medicate and get myself a bottle of water for the night...