This Past Week…
Good day to you all! I’ve nothing more to share today but an anecdote.
Last Sunday, I mentioned just how sick I was when posting my weekly blog. There was a plague going around in my church community for the last few weeks that somehow made its way into my body. The word “plague” is exaggerated and incorrect in the grand scheme of it all—this sickness was surely the flu—but I’m a storyteller. Plague sounds more high stakes to draw you in, and it may as well have been a plague because it seemed like just the mere thought of it would get you infected.
It started with a family at my church missing a Sunday service and even spending some time in the emergency room. Then another family caught the bug. And then individuals all over. One of my friends I was supposed to hang out with canceled and she wasn’t even around the church for the past few weeks. She asked me if I could drop off medicine for her because she had no energy to grab some herself. I obliged and delivered. When she opened the door, well, she looked like she was struggling. That’s all I’ll say to save face (if you’re reading this, I’m glad you’re well now, lol). I kept my distance, said my goodbyes, hopped in my car, and drove home. My friend looked like she was going through it and I was thankful for my strong immune system (or so I thought) and the flu shot I got a month back (no comment on this one); I thought if I contracted anything, it would be mild. That was on a Tuesday two weeks ago and two days after that family’s absence from church. But little did I know, my friend’s red, fiery face and possibly aching body were foreshadowing the times to come in my life.
The following Saturday, I woke up with a slight sore throat. Nothing bad; annoying, yes, but I could get through the day. The day progressed and coughing started. Ok, I’m sick, but it’ll be mild like I thought earlier in the week.
Sunday morning. Every cough felt like I was about to hack my heart out of my body. I was in pain. My head was throbbing. I fell asleep during church, which, by the way, happens now and then truthfully, but this one time was tough. I got home, took a shower, and hopped into bed, hoping this ailment wouldn’t get any worse. When I awoke three hours later, I was “stable”. As stable as a sick man could be. I had no appetite to eat or drive to do anything, so I went back to my bed. Three more hours had passed, and it was now 7 PM. I was still in pain all around, but I somehow got a second wind of sorts and cranked out the last blog post and made some major updates to my website. If you read the last post, you know I had a temperature that surpassed 100 degrees. I don’t know where the energy came to put in that work, but it would be the last time I was productive for the next five days.
Monday was the day I thought I was going to meet Jesus. I had a temperature of 103 degrees, my head felt as if it was going to explode, my body could barely move without pain, and I was in a severely irate mood. I find a lot of things funny, but nothing made me laugh on that day. Have you ever been hot AND cold at the same time? I was under my covers in bed, lying in what felt like a pool of my sweat (no need to imagine this sorry state), but the second I took the covers off, I felt as if I was in a tundra. My teeth chattered to the point of shattering (now, they didn’t break, but I thought they were going to), and my body shivered violently like I was in a Looney Tunes episode. This was the worst I have ever felt in my life and I wouldn’t have wished this on anyone because of how awful the experience was.
This post is getting longer than I wanted it to, so let’s land this plane. I was on the up-and-up beginning Tuesday and was healthy and had enough energy to get to the gym on Friday morning. Though the power of this plague (again, not that serious, but it was bad) left some collateral damage in its wake; my throat took the longest to fully heal, and I was still in pain if I coughed at all. Also, I have accrued sleep debt which pushed me back a whole week and why this post is late; apologies for that! I am completely healed (aside from the sleep deprivation) and am ready to get back to life—time to get to it! Thanks for reading!!
Kiron