Cranky-itis

(November 13, 2008)

It's midnight Thursday and I'm a pissy little crankypants right now. But let me tell you why.

Did I write that I was out of of work November 3, 4 and 5 with this flu-like cold? Flu-like because it meant all over body ache, nauseated tummy and uncontrollable need to sleep. Bunch of friends who had it (office mates too) report that you "won't feel really good for two weeks." Well I thought it was over, except for one last symptom -- li'l cough. Not a great hacking cough, just a light but persistent, ever present need to cough.

Back in April, I'd had such a cough, some spring allergy is what I thought. Went to the doctor, and it turned out to be tracheitis. Yep. No, I hadn't heard of it either. Apparently little kids get it. It's a bacterial infection in the throat that makes you feel like you constantly need to cough. Makes talking hard because you're likely to begin to speak only to dissolve into coughing. For this reason, yesterday I made a doctor appointment for today at 2pm.

So I left work a tad early yesterday, made a nice dinner of strip steaks, corn and salad, enjoyed a nice evening with Joe, a little bedroom fun, the usual.

Around midnight, my right ear began to complain. "Is this an earache starting up?" In a matter of hours it became excruciating. It was like an overall dull ache like someone had stuck a blunt stick into my ear, peppered with a sharp stabbing pain that came and went.

I tried to go to bed, but there was no sleeping.

At 6am, I fired up the laptop. Sure enough I found my boss online ("When do you SLEEP?" I typed to him). I told him about my earache and that I was going to try to get an earlier doc appointment and would most likely not be at the office. Reminded him of the 10am. He told me "good luck" and I signed off. I took Advil, and thankfully that dulled the pain enough so I could, at around 7am, catch some sleep.

I called the doctor first, and the recording said they don't open until 9am. Since the pain was under control, I wasn't as anxious about getting an earlier appointment, so I slept a sweaty, fitful sleep until noon and then got up to get ready for the appointment.

Long story short. Tracheitis again, with a full blown ear infection.

Now I have drugs.

But I still have pain.

OH and I can hardly hear, it's like I'm underwater.

And I still have to go to work tomorrow to run checks, do a reference check, and re-do some international paperwork. I plan to work a three hour day and come home, unless tonight's sleep is a magical sleep of healing and restoration.

So this cold can kiss the roundest part of my ass. I don't have time for this!