Dr. Phil's Dreamwidth Journal

I feel awful.

I haven't felt terrific fine for some time. First, it was the nasty cold that was going around, which took over three weeks to mostly go away. Then I had a flu shot on the second, a week ago Monday. This round of flu shots seems to create some mild fever and aches and pains. It happens. Then my bad leg is swelling more than usual, which it does, but that sometimes morphs into something else unexplained.

And that's where we seem to be today.

Yesterday my aches and pains had aches and pains. Checked my temp after midnight last night -- 101.0°F. Wonderful. I figured it was time to make an executive decision and send an email to my chair and tell him I was not going to be in on Thursday.

It's not just being sick, but we're in the middle of a storm system tearing up the Great Lakes, about on par with the one which swamped the Edmund Fitzgerald forty years ago just the other day. Rain, flooding, 35 mph winds with gusts to 50-60 mph. Power outages forecast, etc. Driving a Blazer on US-131 with winds like that takes concentration, and I was already spent. Plus I've got to keep my foot bandage dry.

I was able to send lecture notes for both classes, if they could find someone to take them. Then I went to bed. When I'm sick, there are several little things which drive me nuts and force me out to try sleeping in a living room chair. Usually it's nose clogging or, worse, whistling. Last night it was another of my horrors -- hearing my pulse in my ear against the pillow, also caused by congestion.

Wednesday I wanted to leave early, 3pm, so I'd get to the Campustowne lab in time to get blood drawn for the standing order of blood tests Infectious Diseases wanted. But there was a problem with my updated webpages not loading correctly. I got out by 3:36. Made it to the lab at 4:58. Locked. Sigh. So I went at 9am, picking an interval where the rain was light. Labs were going out at 10:30am, should have results at 1pm.

Of course that didn't quite work that way. Spectrum's My Health is supposed to allow you to see labs as soon as they're posted. But... nothing. The second time I logged in, there was a note that clinical data was down for maintenance Thursday and Friday. So I called Infectious Diseases -- they had the results. White blood cell count was good. The CRP marker for inflammation was high, but we knew the leg was swollen.

Fever peaked at 1pm, 101.8°F. Down lower now. I've done very little today, but I might be feeling a little better.

My 10am class got canceled -- it'll be covered tomorrow. My 1pm class had subs today and tomorrow. So, we're good as much as we can be. I don't think anyone will ever complain about me needed a sick day -- I rarely stay home.

One of the odd things about this has to do with feeling my foot. Now, this all started when I got a compressed nerve in my left leg from an arthritic hip. So all through my adventures with my foot, I've had no direct feeling -- never needed any pain meds for wound debridement. But I am aware of my foot -- there's some deep tissue feeling in places. And sometimes I experience phantom pain -- I know it's not real because when I touch the area, there's nothing. If I was going to regrow the leg nerve, it takes several years. Last night I started feeling sharp pains in my foot. Oh lord, I do NOT want to have to take painkillers -- I might have to stop driving if this got serious. But, I think it's all part of the reaction of the inflammation and not that I'm feeling the injured sites. More disconcerting than anything, and is much less than it was last night.

But I am tired and sick. I suppose I'm lucky to have typed this much on the laptop -- the autocorrect on the Kindle Fire HD has been a nightmare. (grin)

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

the lack of a bold header, typoes and capitalization should tell you that i am sick and i don't care.

wednesday, the day of my second final exam, i came down with an intestinal flu. when i got around to checking my temp that evening it was around 103degF. Great.

i came home early and crawled into bed.

then there was a phone call from mrs dr phil saying she was waiting for aaa, that the bravada broke and the right front wheel was at a funny angle. MORE disasters? $1100+ for ball joints and other repairs?

sigh

water still trickling in

behind in grading

life sucks

dr phil

Under The Weather

By Thursday or Friday last week, my nose started blocking up and my throat was sore. I knew I was coming down with something. But what? All my Internet friends and columnists have had all sorts of things, including violent flus and weeks of sinuses. Do. Not. Want.

So I've not been posting much. Have managed my driving and my classes, but not much else. But I may survive this. We went out to dinner on Sunday -- more later -- and thankfully I could still taste. Started unblocking the nose yesterday and today -- dinner leftovers were yummy and flavorful tonight. Yay!

Of course when my head gets stuffed I can no longer sleep lying down, so I've been getting good sleep in Mrs. Dr. Phil's recliner. But I want real sleep. By this weekend?

Under The Boot Of The Weather

So... after weeks of mild weather -- we had another long soaking rain last evening -- the weather people are going nuts with a winter storm to warn us about. Problem is, the models are confused and I really don't know of we're talking snow, or deathly icy driving, or SNOW DAY!

I could use a snow day.

Dr. Phil