Cold and flu season. Yep, it's wonderful--if you don't mind being housebound for over a week, sleeping whenever and wherever your body tells you to and just generally being miserable.
They--supposed research people--say that the older you get, the fewer viruses you pick up because you've already built up an immunity to them. Well, I just had one of the worst colds I've had in years. Still recuperating actually. It wasn't the flu because I didn't run a fever. Not that that would've made much difference in the way I felt.
This was no 48-hour thing. I'm on day 10 and, while I feel better, my energy level is low and the glands under my jaw are still tender. I probably should go to the doctor. The thing is I don't want to go out in this cold weather! Today the Chicago area reached the mid-20's. Something of a heat wave after the past week. Just going to the mailbox (at the end of what seems like a mile long driveway) makes my whole body seize up.
Also, just because being sick and taking care of my mom isn't enough, the furnace was blowing cold air. We had the furnace guy out three times. As of this writing, the furnace, with a brand new flame igniter, has been blowing heat for about 30 hours. Truly a record and, God willing, it will continue.
I've ventured out exactly twice in this10 day period. Both times was to CVS. The first time was on day 7, when I was really hoping I was feeling better. Our CVS is, quite literally, down the street. Maybe a mile. After I came home, I slept for four hours straight!
The second time was yesterday, day 9. I ran out of ibuprofen and, since that's the only thing that makes me feel remotely human, it was a necessity. Oh, I could have asked Brittany to pick some up for me, but I had cabin fever. The way I felt afterward, you'd think I had walked there and back!
So today, I felt a little energy coming back. Yay!! When I was getting dressed (I get dressed every day, even when I'm sick--unless I'm incapacitated), I planned a couple of chores I wanted to get done, including putting clean sheets on my bed. Well, at breakfast, my mom tells me the bar attached to her bed broke. Broke?! It's a metal bar, unless you're Mr. Universe, how do you break that? So, after I eat of course, I check it out. A bolt had come out. No big deal. I go to my trusty toolbox and find exactly ONE Philips' screwdriver. Where the heck are all my screwdrivers? OK, I'll look into that later. At least the one I found was a good size. Back to her bedroom. I need to move the mattress so I can get at the frame to reinsert the bolt. This mattress is heavy even when I'm well. Today it was almost immovable. Finally, I get the bolt in and tightened as best I could, which was pretty good since frustration had given me a shot of adrenaline. Then I notice that the straps that hold the bar frame to the box spring are loose. Have to go to the other side of the bed to tighten them. I try to find a place to kneel down over there, but the floor looks like a movie studio floor. There must have been a half dozen wires or cables. Once I get the straps tightened, time to put the mattress back. I'd stood it on end so all I had to do was push it to fall back in place. Hah! There was a 12-pound cat perched on top of it by this time and she had no intention of moving. All 18 of her claws were securely anchoring her to that spot. After several minutes of cajoling, I lured her down by cracking open the window by her favorite tree. To give credit where credit is due, the birds and squirrels actually did the luring. Great! Just push the mattress over and it'll fall into place. Wrong! The bottom slid as it fell and it landed half off the box spring. More pushing, pulling and grunting (there may have been some nasty words uttered, but they were huffed under my breath--didn't have the energy to speak audibly) and, at last, the mattress is in place. My mom can't bend and stretch well enough to put the bottom sheet on her bed, so I did that for her. Ended up putting the top sheet on, too. Tabitha (same cat as referenced above) thinks sheet placement is great fun. The whole lift, snap and settle thing just sends her into paroxysms of joy. After that, it really was no big deal to put the blanket back on the bed.
I redefined the word "exhaustion."
Just another day in my crazy life. Oh! I forgot to mention, I've been doing laundry all day, too. And I have more than usual because it's been well over a week since I last did it. I still have one more load to do :-(
I think I'll just change the pillowcase and leave it at that. Or maybe I'll just lay a clean one on top of the pillow...
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