Day Sixty
I told my supervisor last night that the doctor had said I should not work today. This morning, I worked hard to talk to my "buddy" on the team to get him to make a few contacts to let people I had told I would be in today that I would not be in today.
I got my daughter to summer school, hurriedly showered, and went to the nine-thirty appointment I hoped I had.
I found out the nineteen dollars was for a flu test I had had on Valentine's Day, the day my new husband had been diagnosed with Influenza A. We had all had shots, but my daughter, who had worked in a day care center at the time, had come down with it during a weekend at her dad's. To make her life easier, and to protect the rest of us, including myself who is not supposed to ever cough hard, I had allowed her to just stay at his place until she recovered. She was old enough to take care of herself for the most part, and he had showed enough concern to take her to the doctor in the first place.
But he would not allow me to let the boys skip their Monday night there, and so one of them succumbed, which resulted in my husband also getting it. I didn't get it because they let me have Tamiflu. But I had shut my husband up in our bedroom on Valentine's Day and cared for him, trying to keep him out of the main part of the house as much as I could. So I brought him drinks and food and meds, and lived on the couch that week.
I paid the nineteen dollars and the current copay. Seventy-five minutes later, I left with a cough syrup prescription in my hand. I had told the PA I saw how, at first, I had been prescribed big bottles, and they had gotten progressively smaller. But there's never going to be a time in my life when I won't need to protect myself from coughing hard. He could see all of this in my chart as he researched it while I talked. "I don't know why I can't have a refill," I said. "I'm only using it when I need it." He gave me slightly more--a big bottle half full--and two refills. I thanked him, saying that now, I might not have to deal with this particular problem, for a couple of years.
My middle son texted me in the afternoon to ask if he could help me by bringing pizza. I told him that we had had pizza last night, and for lunch, but thanked him. When I discovered we were out of milk--I was supposed to do the weekend shopping yesterday, but was too sick--I asked him to please bring us some, which he did.
I looked at my list of menus for the week and selected something easy to make. The ground beef for it was already, actually, cooked. I heated it up, sliced a half green pepper that was in the fridge into it. Opened a couple of cans of beans to pour in. Sliced a summer squash into a separate pan. Voila! Dinner in ten minutes. Healthy and didn't take too much out of me.
My husband has been working nights and sleeping days since we got home, so his ability to help me has been limited. And, he told me this morning that he is coming down with my cold.
I got through all the laundry today. Well, it's washed and dried, but not yet folded. I am still quite sick, but the terrible sore throat and swollen glands thing is gone, so I feel better. Between things, I've napped in the bedroom with the steamer, tried to drink as much water as possible, read my new book, coped with my illness, blogged. I might need tomorrow off, too.
I got my daughter to summer school, hurriedly showered, and went to the nine-thirty appointment I hoped I had.
I found out the nineteen dollars was for a flu test I had had on Valentine's Day, the day my new husband had been diagnosed with Influenza A. We had all had shots, but my daughter, who had worked in a day care center at the time, had come down with it during a weekend at her dad's. To make her life easier, and to protect the rest of us, including myself who is not supposed to ever cough hard, I had allowed her to just stay at his place until she recovered. She was old enough to take care of herself for the most part, and he had showed enough concern to take her to the doctor in the first place.
But he would not allow me to let the boys skip their Monday night there, and so one of them succumbed, which resulted in my husband also getting it. I didn't get it because they let me have Tamiflu. But I had shut my husband up in our bedroom on Valentine's Day and cared for him, trying to keep him out of the main part of the house as much as I could. So I brought him drinks and food and meds, and lived on the couch that week.
I paid the nineteen dollars and the current copay. Seventy-five minutes later, I left with a cough syrup prescription in my hand. I had told the PA I saw how, at first, I had been prescribed big bottles, and they had gotten progressively smaller. But there's never going to be a time in my life when I won't need to protect myself from coughing hard. He could see all of this in my chart as he researched it while I talked. "I don't know why I can't have a refill," I said. "I'm only using it when I need it." He gave me slightly more--a big bottle half full--and two refills. I thanked him, saying that now, I might not have to deal with this particular problem, for a couple of years.
My middle son texted me in the afternoon to ask if he could help me by bringing pizza. I told him that we had had pizza last night, and for lunch, but thanked him. When I discovered we were out of milk--I was supposed to do the weekend shopping yesterday, but was too sick--I asked him to please bring us some, which he did.
I looked at my list of menus for the week and selected something easy to make. The ground beef for it was already, actually, cooked. I heated it up, sliced a half green pepper that was in the fridge into it. Opened a couple of cans of beans to pour in. Sliced a summer squash into a separate pan. Voila! Dinner in ten minutes. Healthy and didn't take too much out of me.
My husband has been working nights and sleeping days since we got home, so his ability to help me has been limited. And, he told me this morning that he is coming down with my cold.
I got through all the laundry today. Well, it's washed and dried, but not yet folded. I am still quite sick, but the terrible sore throat and swollen glands thing is gone, so I feel better. Between things, I've napped in the bedroom with the steamer, tried to drink as much water as possible, read my new book, coped with my illness, blogged. I might need tomorrow off, too.
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