The Flu

On Saturday morning the strangest thing happened. I didn't feel sick. I woke up feeling good, well rested, and ready to take on the day. My normal layer of fatigue was missing. I didn't have a headache, stiff neck, scratchy throat, or sinus pressure. I didn't feel weighted down by the oppressiveness of trudging through life feeling like crap all the time. I kept mentally scanning my body over and over again searching for any ping or pang of pain but just couldn't find one. It had been so long since I've had a symptom-free day, I forgot it was even possible. I also forgot how motivated to live life I am when I'm not shrouded in sickness.

So I went to Ikea. It's a big place and by the time we were done shopping I was way past hungry, so we stopped for a burger. The second I sat down at the restaurant I felt it, all of it. All those symptoms listed above that took a vacation for the day had come back home. Except my scratchy throat was razor-blade sore and I felt simultaneously chilled and feverish. Never knowing if I'm coming down with an actual cold or flu, or just good ol' fibro, all I could do was wait to see how my symptoms manifested. I think I asked my husband to feel if my forehead was hot at least twenty times. I kept drinking water, trying to swallow the razor blades away. Then around midnight I caught a chill so violent and intense, my entire body started convulsing. I was shaking so uncontrollably as I stumbled to the fireplace, I could hardly breathe and certainly couldn't speak. All that water I drank trying to chase away my sore throat got caught somewhere between my convulsions and inability to breathe. So like the completely melodramatic freak of nature I was in that moment, all I could do was croak at my husband to get me a bowl to puke in, limbs spasming and teeth chattering.

Needless to say I got the flu. It's a mild flu, as far as flus go. My fever broke in twenty-four hours and I (cross my fingers) haven't spent a night of sleep unable to breathe out of my nose yet. I feel like crap and am bogged down with fatigue, but what's new? I'm more excited about those glorious eight hours that I didn't feel like a sick person. How do I get back to that? Trying to do laundry and walk my dogs with my lingering cold has reminded me how impossible it is to accomplish anything while only able to halfway function.

Thanks for joining,

Leah