Sick

On Thursday the office closed early, so I decided to make a nice dinner with the extra time. I went to the store, came home and made pulled pork sandwiches with cornbread and corn on the cob. It all came out well, but while I was cooking, I noticed my throat growing a little sore. I hoped that maybe it was an effect of the air conditioner being on so much. That night I ran back to the store and got a tub of ice cream. The ice cream made my throat feel a little better, and I went to bed.

Friday morning I woke up and was pretty sure that I was dying. I had a fever, the chills, I was achy all over, and my sore throat was much worse. I glanced at my throat in the mirror, and noticed my uvula was perhaps three times it's normal size. Ugh. What a great way to spend the Fourth of July. Throughout the day, it got worse and worse. Mid-afternoon I took my temperature and it was a whopping 103.1- and that's about a half an hour after I took two Tylenol. I probably should have gone to a doctor, but the idea of waiting in an ER for 20+ hours while all the idiots with blown-off fingers go ahead of me (fireworks accidents + triage) was not appealing. I decided to take my chances. Eventually my fever started going down, and I ate a little then went to bed. This morning I woke up, and surprisingly felt much better. My sore throat is gone, as is the fever... but I still feel sort of achy and sick.

I remember growing up with the mentality that if you have a fever, then you have an infection and you need antibiotics. Since moving to Maryland, I've gotten three fevers, and haven't gone to the doctor for any of them. Miraculously, I've survived! It took me a while before I realized that I have a functioning immune system, and maybe I don't always need drugs to make me better. Take a little something to keep the fever from cooking your brain, drink a lot of water, and let your immune system do it's thing.