Stupid Sickness

This week has been absolute hell. Funny, considering it came on the tails of what was possibly the most awesome weekend ever! Monday afternoon, I became afflicted with a dull stomach cramping. Nothing too serious, but slightly bothersome to me later that evening after I had some trail mix in what should have been a prelude to actual food. Being a bit of a sickness pansy, I decided it best to curl up and get some sleep.

Tuesday rolls around...nothing out of the ordinary. Had coffee in the morning, went about my business. Jami and I got salad from Giant Eagle for lunch; my thinking that if I was in the early stages of a stomach bug, I wanted something relatively inane for lunch. (Side note: Jami had just gotten over a pretty nasty bug herself, so I had been trying preemptively strike against what she had all weekend...although, honestly, this was limited to Friday with copious amounts of alcohol). Lunch comes and goes and by late afternoon, the stomach cramping had reached a more noxious level. A nuisance, if you will. Since Tuesday is my run day, I refused to let my stomach win, so I took some Tylenol (I had eaten, so it should be ok) and went for the standard 2 miles.

Following my run, I head home and am greeted with what I consider the death and dying phase. Possibly, the running only accentuated the noxious stomach cramping, but by 7, I was pleading with Leah to come shoot me and put me out of my misery. I went so far as to bequeath her my purse collection and any of my clothing that she could wear (Mary, you can have my pants). I laid down, in complete and utter misery, for about three hours. Mind you, there has been no food consumption since lunch. After realizing how disgusting I still was from running, I decided to take a bath. I managed that, and even washed my hair, VERY carefully. Dried my hair and crawled back into bed.

Tuesday night was even worse than the death and dying phase. Trying to get back to sleep was awful...listened to my mp3 player for a good hour or so before I was even remotely close. I was curling up in fetal positions any which way to try and dull the pain. Every hour, at least, I woke up and honest to goodness, could feel the cramping moving along my gastrointestinal tract. I remember thinking, ooh, maybe it'll have moved a few inches along this time! There was even a point in the middle of the night that I laid out on my hallway floor (it's really cool right there and nice and supportive on my aching back).

Wednesday morning rolls around. Wednesday being the day of the Student Appreciation Luncheon at work. That being something, as the chair of the Social Committee, for which I really should be present. I email my boss and the secretaries and plan to head in around 10, which should give me another hour or so of sleep. I wasn't feeling all that bad at this point, but quite fatigued. Get into work and had completely forgotten the parking lot by my office was blocked for tree trimming. Pain in the ass. Thankfully, there was one space in the gravel lot left. If I had to walk from the chapel or community center, I was going home!

The picnic went well, thanks to much help from many people. Lord knows I would have passed out if I did too much of it on my own. I even dared to eat a piece of pizza and some homemade ice cream, figuring if I felt crappy, I could go home! Actually, the plan all along was to head home around 2, giving me a half-day at work and some more time to recuperate from the illness. I made it until 2:30, somewhat surprisingly, but after I picked up some things for Rascal, I came home.

Thankfully, things seem to have passed with my 5 hour naptime this afternoon. I even managed to do a load of laundry in there, having put it in before I went to sleep and hanging it out/drying one of the times I woke up (although I didn't actually run the dryer, so I just did that when I woke up at 9). And just now at 11pm, I felt hungry and had some cereal. It'll be a while until I want to fall asleep, but since things seem to be functioning correctly, I thought it safe to eat.

Well, friends, thank you for listening to my 48 hour horror that my boss seems to think is a result of food poisoning. After all, he is a doctor, of sorts. :)