Home Sick

I am home today, sick.  Sick enough that I didn't get out of bed until after 9:00 (unheard of for me). Sick enough that my body aches and I have several "heat 'em ups" placed at various parts of my body.  One wrapped around my neck in my attempt to ease my sore throat. It hurts from the inside out, and both ears.  I'm so grateful that I heeded my body yesterday and found a sub for today. It feels like the flu; obviously a strain that wasn't in the vaccination I got last fall!

My class is on a field trip, so at least that made lesson plans fairly easy to put together.  I'm sad that I'm missing it, yet, glad that I'm home, with a fire going in the pellet stove and my warm comfy's in place.

I woke up feeling great yesterday. I had taken a sleep aid, and gotten a good night's sleep.  My throat has been hurting all week, but it was tolerable, as long as I had throat lozenges and plenty of hot tea.  We had about 1 1/2" of snow on the ground, but I didn't think it would affect the day, so I got ready for work, not bothering to check the news.

Driving to work I thought it seemed strange that there were no buses or kids, but I was a few minutes early so I chalked it up to being "inbetween" bus routes.  But, when I pulled into the school parking lot, there were only four or five cars!  I wasn't that early!

I walked in with the principal, who told me it was a two hour late start.  I happily replied, "Yea! A bonus of time to work on report cards!"  I went to my room, turned on my heater, and booted up the computer. There were only two teachers in the building, so I knew I'd have some uninterrupted time to work.

One of the staff assistants came around, gathering orders for a Starbucks run, and I cheerfully plugged in grades.  I started feeling "funny" about an hour later, and it just kept getting worse.  I was freezing, with chills literally running up my back.  I hunched over the heater, trying to warm up.  By the time the kids arrived, I was wondering if I'd make it through the day.  I did, but I spent my lunch time searching for a sub. Every time I talked for more than a couple minutes I'd have a coughing fit, not very pretty, and the kids were feeling sorry for me.

The director of elementary curriculum wandered into my room in the afternoon while we were correcting a math activity, with kids sharing their math thinking. (I've known him a long time, as he was my principal when I did my student teaching).  When I excused the kids for recess he told me, "You either have a great class or you have them trained really well!"  I laughed and said, "Well, they are pretty good.  Usually pretty chatty though!" (I didn't tell him I thought they were being sweet cause I felt so yucky!)

By the time I got home I was sicker than I remember for a long, long time.  I couldn't warm up; everything hurt. I forced down some chicken noodle soup, tried to read, but mostly dozed, and finally went to bed.  It was a restless night.  It hurt to swallow, and every part of me ached.

My first thought when I woke up (for the third time) was, "Boy am I glad I'm not going to work!" Four hours later, I'm still grateful to be home.


It's been a strange day of attempting to read, frequent naps, and trying to stay hydrated.  Just when I think maybe I'm feeling better, I go into a coughing frenzy that wipes me out. It's barely 7:30 PM, and I'm ready for bed, but worried I'll have another sleepless night.  For some reason it's easier to fall asleep sitting up.

I usually get really cranky when I get sick, and say, "I don't have time to be sick!"  I guess this time, I'm too sick to care about time.  I brought a load of work home, and I still have to finish report cards.  I really don't feel like working on them, and I'm probably not in the best frame of mind!

The thing about being taken sick is that it always stops me in my tracks, and makes me re-evaluate what is really important.  While it's true that I have to be "really sick" to stop going full speed ahead, I always kind of appreciate the breather. I don't know why I have to get sick in order to take time for myself.  I guess getting sick is natures way of showing me, "Hey, you're not in control . . . just in case you needed a reminder!"