Ugh.
I start with “ugh” intentionally, so you’ll understand
straight away this isn’t one of those “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” stories.
Damian tested positive for COVID last night. He’s been unwell for about a day and a half,
but between the massive pollen we’ve had thus far this season (which makes my
black Mercedes resemble the color of Donald Trump’s golden toilet) and the
crazy weather patterns – it’s unsurprising one of us would end up with a
cold/flu. I just figured it would be me.
Let me just quickly clarify – when I say crazy weather
patterns – this is what we’ve been experiencing:
Winter
temperatures (froze the pipes again)
Mild
Winter temps (“more than a sweater”
weather)
SUMMER
Winter
Round 2
One day of Spring
THE BOWELS OF HELL heat
Winter
Round 3
Thunderstorms
More Thunderstorms
THUNDERSTORMS SIGNIFYING THE GODS ON MT OLYMPUS ARE
AT WAR
Back to
Summer
One day of beautiful spring weather
TORNADOES
BLOWING TREES AND HOUSES DOWN (not kidding – check the news)
Yeah, ridiculously CRAZY weather patterns.
Damian doesn’t get sick often, so when he does it’s a pretty
big deal. It went from a bit of a scratchy
throat to “please not a cold just before the weekend” (at this point he’s still texting to tease
Donna about rescuing her UPS box and giving the neighbors grief about their
obsessive-compulsive gardening habits) to “Do you still have your father’s
revolver so I can put myself out of my misery” fairly quickly. Fever.
Coughing. Congestion. Body aches. Down for the count. Done. Sleeping all day. Nothing but Vitamin C, electrolytes, hot tea
with lemon and honey and some Advil Cold & Flu.
He doesn’t let me pamper him nearly as much as he takes care
of me when I’m out after surgery – it’s not a complaint (he just feels like
garbage and wants to hide until he’s human again) - but it’s hard to watch wishing
I could do more to take away his pain.
Wasn’t tired at bedtime so I played on my phone for a bit
then started feeling gloriously sleepy.
Turned on the white noise (to deafen the dog’s snoring), turned on the
fan (to blow the dog’s farts away from my bed), and settled in with my second
favorite pillow (the dog pee’d on my favorite one during previously mentioned
thunderstorms of doom) and tried to get comfy.
Nope. Too much
pain. Lots of pain still going on from
surgery, all over the place. Crap.
Took a pain pill, waited 30 minutes for it to work its magic
and “Hallelujah! I’m out of pain!” but now I’m also wide awake. Completely awake. “Let’s make coffee and mow the lawn!” awake. Tried
soothing music, tried guided sleep meditation, tried the mental imagery techniques my counselor taught me when we were
studying sleep hygiene – no help. It’s as
if my brain doesn’t realize I haven’t slept so I’m sitting at my desk at 5:30
am wondering how I’m going to get through the day on zero rest and make sure
Damian has everything he needs to get through the worst of this. (Covid hit him hard last time.)
So far, I feel fine – exhausted, of course - but it’s one
more reason I’m grateful that surgery for next week is canceled. The sun is starting to come up – guess I’ll
get started on some homework.
