A Watched Pot...

Patience, grasshopper.

It's been a long week, and it's not over yet. I have been sick since last Sunday with this nasty sore throat/cold/viral crud. I really haven't felt terrible, but I have been tired, more tired than usual. My afternoon naps have become a necessity and have been stretching to 2 1/2 or 3 hours, and I'm sleeping at night too. The only problem is I have been waking up in the middle of the night with these bad coughing fits. Then I feel like crap all morning until I get my afternoon nap.

It's been a semi-productive week even though I haven't been feeling so great. I managed to paint twice, I sent in my Badwater application, and I caught up on some reading. I called in sick for work on Wednesday, knowing that I had chemo class on Thursday from 8 to 5 and I couldn't miss that. Besides, patients just love it when their nurse is sick and coughing all over them. I also knew I'd have to work back to back 12 hour shifts this weekend and I needed to give myself a fighting chance to get some energy back and get better.

I got my labs back from getting everything drawn including thyroid, and I'm perfect. Everything within normal limits. I was wondering about the fatigue. I am tending a little toward the hyperthyroid end of things so I need to adjust that a bit before this summer. I don't want to go into Badwater hyperthyroid because it will reduce my ability to tolerate the heat. I have a plan, and I'll get things checked around April so I can make any adjustments in time for Death Valley.

Today I did feel somewhat better from my sore throat but the air has been so dry and my throat gets sore, especially after I've been sleeping or not drinking hot liquids. I finally figured it out, after sitting in that dry, cramped, hospital basement classroom all day Thursday, my throat hurt like hell! I just need some humidity to make my throat feel better. We used to have a humidifier but I couldn't find it, Dennis didn't know where it was, so I went out to look for one, thinking they'd be inexpensive.

Wrong. Walgreens had several different models starting at $30. I really didn't feel like spending any precious Badwater money on a stupid piece of plastic when I could easily boil water in my kitchen and humidify the air in our small house.

I'm getting to be quite cheap these days, I quit coloring my hair to save money for Badwater, too! Yes, it's going to be an expensive race this summer but I'm not going to let that stop me. I'll make it work. Even if I have to swallow my vanity to show my gray! Gray should be cooler than brown in the Death Valley heat, right?

The most frustrating part of being sick has been my inability to train. It's probably a good thing, it's keeping me from overdoing it when I have another long run coming up in a few weeks, which I am plenty prepared for. Plus it's been outrageously cold! It was 15 below the other morning!

Today I did feel a lot better and I took the girls out for a walk, cautiously, since the temperature was near 40 and the ice was melting again. After just a few steps out the door, I started off in a slow jog, and the girls went with it, and we ended up running 6 miles, with plenty of sniff breaks and goose poop diving.

Tomorrow it's back to work for the weekend before my next chance to nap. I need to wait patiently, I won't get word about Badwater until close to the end of the month, and I need to move forward and go about my business. Things will take care of themselves, and I have help...

the girls are watching for me.