The freaking flu again, y’all. 😦
Where I used to be totally “immune” to it (for lack of a better way to say it), as in I could work with patients with it every day and not catch it for literally YEARS, it is apparently my Kryptonite now. And I’m starting to settle in and get used to that idea at this point.
What is still just astonishing to me is how quickly my health status changes these days.
It’s not so much a day to day thing as an hour by hour one really.
For example, we had a wonderful holiday weekend – and I am so grateful – with a lovely Thanksgiving Day at home, then Friday at my bestie’s house, then Saturday full of football-y fun stuff, and Sunday with our family.
On Sunday, when we were on our way back to our house, I went from feeling normal to just exhausted and ROUGH really suddenly.
I then realized that at some point I had eaten something containing gluten – and triggering my celiac disease makes my RA and my GI system both just go crazy.
Think severe joint pain, fever, fatigue, headaches, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, mouth ulcers, rashes, joint swelling . . .
So Monday was just a sick as Hale day all around. Tuesday wasn’t much better.
Today was improving – and then suddenly this evening it wasn’t.
Just out of the clear blue sky, I started feeling really sick – flu-y sick.
And I looked at my watch and I sat down and thought and I waited for a bit and hoped it would pass – but it has continued to get worse.
See, yesterday afternoon, I ran into my precious neighbor, an older gentleman, at our mailboxes, and talked to him for about five minutes before he thought to mention to me that he was getting over THE FLU. Of course, he isn’t aware that I can’t be around sick people. And I was hoping and praying he was no-longer-a-carrier-and-over-his-flu but it turns out that 26 hours after exposure was when I first started to go downhill.
YUCK I say.
For whatever reason, whenever I get flu or a virus similar, I start with fever and alternating chills and sweats and – the kicker – my ankles become incredibly tender and even more difficult to stand on. GRRR. Then there is the usual stuff – snot, sore throat, and onward. . . Groddy, groddy, groddy.
I have been trying to deny it – but that is really failing me.
I was aware that I needed to be extra cautious while I’m out at Target and the grocery store and the pharmacy – but I wasn’t considering my mailbox.
That makes this spoonie woman want to go inside, fill the moat around my house, and just FaceTime everybody until April. #fixitjesus
As that isn’t feasible (and would get pretty lonesome), I’ll need to totally stock up my bag with even more hand gel and go full-on Monk germaphobe for the winter after I recover from this funk.
For now, it’s survival of the plague mode.
That means lots of fizzy water and kombucha and Advil Cold and Mucinex DM and handkerchiefs and Supernatural and fuzzy blankets and my cozy plague scarf and some hot tea and – since I’m flashing cold again right now – all of the warm pjs.
And who knows how long I’ll be puny? On immunosuppresants it’s really tough to say and each illness is different.
As I was checking around for other spoonies suggestions for remedies, I came across this article from The Mighty and it is helpful for healthy people to better understand the. . . level of health instability I think? . . . that comes with living with these illnesses. You know, I thought I understood before myself but it has gotten so much worse in the past two years that I realize I had no idea what was coming. Ugh.
It’s just really something.
The only thing “normal” is that there is no “normal” anymore.
But, of course, onward. 😉
And so so much gratitude for my fabulous family and bestie and friends and furries and things I can work on and read and do from bed.
And warm scarves and handkerchiefs and blankets and meds – and the world’s cutest weenie dog who always stays with me. ❤
Be well, everybody. Use your hand gel and cover your coughs.
Grace and Blessings.
#drinkwater
the autoimmune hippie. 