I try not to hate anything but....

For the record, I HATE being sick. The swollen and aching joints has gone away only to be replaced by post-nasal drip and a hacking cough that results in 20 minute coughing fits. Every time, I lie down, more junk runs down the back of my throat and I wind up having to sit up, holding a pillow, coughing up what is left of a lung and part of my liver. I am diaphoretic (in non-medical terms " a cold clammy sweat") and thankfully, the fevers have gone away. I may have cracked a few ribs but I can now identify all of my intercostal muscles (those would be the muscles between the ribs...there is a set used for inspiration and a set used for expiration) because they hurt every time I take a breath larger than a tiny puff.

I won't even begin to describe the colors and the textures of the junk I am coughing up or swallowing. That would be a whole other blog called "Really Gross Stuff I Have Seen and Can Discuss at the Dinner Table but Don't".

I'm just so tired of being sick. I hate getting winded walking the 15 steps to the bathroom. Or having to take a 30 minute break to recover from my walk into work. And if I happen to forget to take the OTC medication I bought for exorbitant prices at the gas station, I can hardly talk before I will be hacking for another 15 minutes. I actually sent myself home on Monday to rest after spending most of the night coughing, tossing and turning. When the medicine finally kicked in, my kids came home and it was time to go and get my youngest at daycare. I just can't win. I HATE being sick.

I'm pretty sure the rest of the people in my world are sick of me being sick too. My co-worker who is 5 months pregnant keeps a respectable distance. I completely understand. I don't want her to get sick. But I don't have the plague. I am not contagious anymore. I don't think. It's better to be safe than sorry. But it does make for some lonely work days. Not to mention all the comments of, "You sound terrible...Are you going to the doctor?" To which I reply, "No...my fever has broken...my mucus has thickened and my cough is actually productive now...I have turned the corner and I'm getting better. Really...I AM... It sounds worse than it is..." Truth be told, I'm putting on a brave face because I really feel awful and would like nothing better than to stay at home and sleep all day. But duty calls. No rest for the weary. Or the sick.