Can I really be un-sick?

After two days straight of sleeping and four days of fever, at 2pm today I became myself again! It was rather sudden. I could hardly believe it. For a couple days I was certain I had one foot in the grave. Alas, no!

I studied German, played with charcoals, washed all my sheets after I sneezed about 700 times on them, picked up the 6 million kleenexes on my floor, and decided I was a new person. I repainted my nails blue, and marveled in the wonderment of health. I'm unsure if the sudden recovery was related to the amoxicillin, soledum, sinus rinses, or 50 hours of sleep. One of those things...

I'm so excited to be alive, I've uploaded a few pictures.


First, Helga's garden. Helga, who is so sweet she came up yesterday evening at 7pm, to make sure I was okay, because they had not heard me all day (I was sleeping!) and they knew I was sick. (She was also sick.) Terribly nice landlords! I would adopt them if I could.

Ernst and Helga were trying to teach me the German names for the little garden accoutrements, as well as the plants. You can probably guess that I forget them all. Schieß!

A photo attempting to show you the endless rain from today and most days lately. I'm thinking about starting a petition to rename our town Regenwald (rainforest).

Returning to the charcoals, I'm quite in heaven. I think I'll create another wall of pictures. Just need to find some of that sticky tack stuff. Also here you'll see my little shrine. I thought I might light the candles and contemplate life periodically, but I think that's going to wait til the winter months when it's darker more often. Not so much of a thrill to light candles in the light...

Finally the blue nailpolish with un-sick me! I am so happy to be able to think and walk and clean and read and draw and wash clothes. Yay for life! By the way, this nail polish is a hit with everyone especially 6-16 year old girls. Yeah, I am immature. I was trying to show you how it almost matches my eyes. Not quite. Ok, it's closer to my car.

Also, I gave myself more layers about a week ago when I was sick of my hair. Mostly I am just damn happy not to be sick.


xxxx from Germany.

In jail at home

Slightly bad attitude, as I have my first experience with canceling a trip due to illness. I cannot leave the country since I can barely walk to the bathroom. No way could I drive to Munich to catch a flight.

I'm propped up on the couch, some semblance of sanity is creeping in again, after two days of 102+ fever. I was bordering on delirium, and also realised that I couldn't sleep with a temp that high, so it was hard to get better. I felt like crawling out of my skin. A creepy feeling, especially when living alone. I decided I should not lock the door, in case I died! :) Gotta think of those things.

Last night about 6:15, I realised I could barely walk 10 feet, my head was pounding in and out, like I might pass out at any moment. I called my assistant Rhodes, who's a smart and highly trained EMT. She said, you are dehydrated! Drink water until your throat is sore! (Hey it was already sore, but.) I also didn't even know where to go if I would've had to go in. I didn't know how to call in sick either.

I dug around and found some rehydration salts and drank those with more water and juices until I was pregnant with fluid. Rhodes came by later with Tylenol and more juices, so I took two and a few hours later my temp was back to normal, about 97. It has since crept back up to 100 but that's manageable. My poor body's working hard.

Despite my delirium, I was able to call the airlines, find out about rebooking, cancel the hotel room, call the guy who is buying my car to tell him that I was too sick, and what else? I discovered I now like grapefruit juice, something I used to hate bitterly. (Tee hee.)

New plan for the weekend: hold down couch. Oh well, that's life.

Dialogue of a flu

Sudden exhaustion, on Monday, like you hadn't slept in weeks. Headache starts on Tuesday, which continues to worsen every day. Skin hurts. Whole body hurts.

Wednesday freezing with goosebumps at work while everyone else is warm. Wonder if you have a fever. At home, discover it's about 102. Yes, you are sick. Go to bed at 8.

Wake up at 5:30, feeling a 100x worse. WTF? Walk into the bathroom and feel like you are going to pass out, head is throbbing in and out. Hold onto sink for stability. Wonder if you are going to die. Take cipro, excedrin, vit B12. Can't find anything else to take, so you go back to bed. Call mom. (Thank god for the time difference.) Feel better. Mom always makes you feel better.

About 7:00, get out of bed. Actually feel better and fever is breaking. Finally.

Shower and go to work, get sent home within 45 minutes. Stop at Commissary for OJ and other drinks and then head home. Run into Helga in the stairwell. "Ich bin krank," you say. She says, "Du muß viel Tee trinken!"

Totally exhausted and cold. Probably running fever again.

If this persists, you know Istanbul is not in the cards for this weekend.

PS. German lesson for the day- Mein Hals ist wund und mein Kopf schmerzt. Ich habe Fieber. (My throat is sore and my head aches. I have a fever.)

Help!

I'm fighting off a stuffy nose, head cold and sore throat just to make things more complicated for Sunday's jog around the city... which starts at 6:30AM. As if that were not early enough, I will be catching a ferry to the start line at about 4:30AM. I think I'm going to need more than caffeine to keep me going. Any advice?

Tomorrow I plan to lollygag around the city, drinking coffee and smoothies (no fiber or fat) and whatnot. Relaxing I hope.

I'm sort of itching to hop a plane to SE Asia. It's cheaper if I leave before December. I'm getting a little bit stir crazy and ready to drop everything and go. I have to be out of my place on the 20th anyway, so I'll be homeless wherever I may be.

Sorry to disappoint

I tried to upload some pictures from the Cook Islands, but they didn't save correctly onto my flash card, so you'll just have to wait another day. Egads! I think I'll also postpone the story until the pictures come along. (But it will be good, I promise.)

In unrelated news, my voice decided to take a vacation from me today. It was coming on last night, but I thought perhaps I was imagining it. No. It went away for no apparent reason. (I'm not sick.) Luckily, it's entertaining to my colleagues, who shout, "Speak up!" and snicker as I scrunch my face up in mock frustration. By this afternoon, I was resorting to slips of paper and miming. Luckily, I have a lot of facial expressions stored up and can write legibly when necessary. (I'm not a real doctor, you see, otherwise there might be a problem.) Don't tell anyone, but I am rather enjoying the silence. I promise I won't become like that kid off the "Little Miss Sunshine" show, unless one of you posts a really good cause for me.

So off I am home now. No activities planned for the evening.

One more thing- a bit of happy vegan baking news. Last year, I submitted a recipe (Maple Cranberry Almond Scones) that I'd made up to a vegan recipe contest (through Blossoming Lotus in Portland/Hawaii) and they selected it as one of the top 50, which is not like grand prize, but it's good enough. They're considering a book, with credits to the recipe authors. I may start calling myself "Sara the experimental vegan baker." I know it's a long, semi-unoriginal title, but I like it anyway. Unfortunately I have only a toaster oven here, so it seems my new recipe inventions will be rather limited for now.

For when the great scorer comes

To write against your name,

He marks not that you won or lost

But how you played the game.