Skip to main content

Day 117 - Bronchitis for Thanksgiving

In 2012, I had bronchitis for Thanksgiving.

If you are trying to figure out why I know this, it's mostly because I was in grad school at the time, and it really threw off my whole groove. [insert Emperor's New Groove quotes here]

In the fall of 2012, everything I was doing involved the public, the grossest of all people. I was getting ready to student teach in the spring semester, so I was doing observations in a public middle school or high school probably 3 times a week and breathing in kid germs the entire time I was there. I was still taking 3ish grad classes on-campus, where there were free-range college kids sharing their germs with everyone they came into contact with. It didn't help that all of my friends still lived and worked on-campus, so they shared the germs they were exposed to whenever I saw them. And, last but not least, I was working part-time with the public at the Buffalo Museum of Science, leading tour groups, cleaning up work benches after families moved on to another room, and leading birthday parties for sneezing kids.

If I wasn't clear, I was surrounded by the public at all times and everything they brought with them.

The week before Thanksgiving, which is only about a month before finals in academia, I remember talking to my friends and complaining about how tired I was. Their empathetic response was "yeah, we all are." But I persisted. "No, I'm like, really tired. And I got 8 hours of sleep last night!"

"8 hours? Then you should be fine!"

I was not fine. On the Sunday or Monday the week of Thanksgiving, I suspect I was hit by a semi because I was achy, had no voice, but had a wild cough. I was unfortunately plagued by bronchitis as a child, and all the signs were there - I was about to be down and out. But before I could be down and out, I had one more shift at the museum that needed working. Ok, I had 2 more shifts, but I wouldn't work that second one.

Anyway, my boss heard me coughing down the hallway, saw me slump against the wall while I waited for her to gather supplies, and told me "you're going to the doctor as soon as you're done talking to 7th graders about astronomy."

I took myself to urgent care for 3 different medicines and a lecture about taking care of myself. I was on an antibiotic for Thanksgiving, and that meant no adult drinks. What a bummer, especially when you consider that my family is more mimosas on holidays instead of marathons.

So, this morning at 6am when I couldn't get comfortable for the life of me and felt the need for my inhaler, I had a sinking feeling that I might be sick.

This time around, I have no idea where I got it from or what it is. I am seeing the public a lot less these days, but I've been fighting a cold since last week when I wrote about it. Whatever I woke up with today took advantage of my already weakened state. Whatever it is, it's also not COVID or Flu A or B. I had the home test for those, and despite my nose dripping directly onto the test, it was somehow negative.

I also missed some signs this time around, but I guess hindsight is 2020. Or maybe it's 2012.

I also seem to be in good company this time around. Last time, I was on a limb by myself, floating around being tired and achy all by myself, attempting to get enough sleep and pretending to enjoy ginger ale instead of wine. This time, I'm hearing from a bunch of people that they have it, or someone in their house has it. And from what I can tell, it's awful for everyone.

So, in case you have a magical option to avoid this, 0/10. Would not recommend.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 66 - Revelation

I’m not sure what triggered the conversations. I talked to 3 women last week who had all been diagnosed with ADHD late in life. One of them was my sister, and that’s important, because guess what ADHD has? A strong hereditary link. The other two were girlfriends - very different careers. Children at very different stages of their life. Different ages for their diagnosis. And while the wording was different, the message was the same - probably time for you to get evaluated. Actually, I think when I told my sister “I think I have ADHD,” her reply was something close to “no fucking shit.” You know, lovingly. There’s an episode of How I Met Your Mother where the sound of glass shattering plays whenever someone notices an annoying habit of one of the other characters. I tend to hear it in my head when I feel a lightbulb moment, and this past week has been nothing but glass shattering in my head. Why did I stay up until 1am in high school to type out my chemistry labs when no one else was do...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 120 - Dessert

I'm feeling a little off today. Not just because I'm still dealing with the congestion from whatever this sickness was from over the weekend, but because I'm still unemployed. I think I just don't know what to do next. I had an interview yesterday for a departmental supervisor at a local store, but it didn't go great. I was very out of practice for the interview, which was a surprise to me, and the interview was weird. It was clear that the interviewer had a script that needed to be read and answered in order. None of my jokes landed, and they were funny. I'm funny! Or at least witty. And when I asked some follow-up questions about one of their questions, they didn't have an answer for me. It made me question if I even want this job, and that's the first time that's happened so far this job search. I've also only had 4 interviews (out of 80+ applications), so I guess I haven't had a lot of say in what position is right for me. Today, I was, a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 1 - here I go again

In first or second grade, I found a book in the school library of rhymes and old wives' tales about weather predictions. It was things like "Red sky at night, sailor's delight.” I was hooked. From that point on, I wanted to study the weather. In second grade, I begged my teacher to let me do the weather report for the classroom at least once a week. I was obsessed with a book about how to conserve water. I studied maps, and went to Lake Ontario with Dad to look for waterspouts (I'm embarrassed to say that despite the fact I've spent most of my life on the Great Lakes, I still haven't seen one.) In 4th grade, the dad of one of my classmates worked in the control tower of our airport. This was pre-2001, so he arranged a tour for the class. We got to see some pretty cool things and overheard pilots talking. This drew me in, and by the time I watched a special about the Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta with my dad, I was so sure I would work at an airport. In ...
Post a Comment
Read more