Gah!!! What a Week!

So, I know I haven't said anything here, but I didn't make it back to work this week. I'm going to try to go in this afternoon for my first summer Friday. We'll see if that works.

So, Tuesday I stayed home. By 8 pm that evening I could hardly catch my breath. AT ALL! I mean, my breathing was about 1/3 of what it usually is. I'd been short of breath for about a week already, but that was the worst it'd gotten. I thought it was allergies. It wasn't.

It was bronchitis. We headed to the Emergency Room at about 9 pm, got in to be seen at about 10. They first hopped me up on Ibuprofrin for the muscular aches, Lortab for the sore throat & head-ache, some anti-nausea stuff, and then gave me an albuterol treatment on a nebulizer. After finishing all that, I got to go have a chest X-ray done. Shortly after that was done, the Dr. came back and told me the diagnosis was bronchitis and that I was to stay home for the next couple of days and get plenty of bed rest, liquids, and oh by the way..... Here was a prescription for MORE Lortab, an Antibiotic, and more anti-nausea pills, and an inhaler for immediate use. And to be sure and be taking my ibuprofrin at home for the muscular aches & pains.

I woke up wednesday morning almost completely unable to move. I'm not joking. It took me 20 minutes to work my way out of bed. Every little movement made every joint & muscle in my body scream in agony. I felt like somebody had kicked me in each of my shins a couple of times, then taken baseball bats to my knees & thighs, my groin, my upper chest & shoulders, my elbows & even my wrists & the backs of my hands. My neck and jaw were also very, very stiff & sore.

Dad came to get me over to the grocery store's pharmacy to fill my prescrips. It's a good thing he did, too, because I probably would not have made it. Besides, the lortab that they sent me home with contains enough codine to make a horse loopy, much less me. The one pill I haven't really had a need for is the anti-nausea stuff. I get loopy, and slightly nauseous, but not enough so that I'm hurling my cookies everywhere. Hell, I've been so tired & sore that I haven't felt like eatting anything to hurl.

I did tell y'all, right, that I'm convinced the BEST weight loss plan is to get sick?!?! Seriously, if you don't eat anything, then you're working up a feverish sweat..... A girl can lose a good amount of weight that way. Too bad it takes so much else out of us, as well.

Anyway..... I spent all of Wednesday trying (not successfully, mind you) to get comfortable on the couch while watching tv and movies. Yesterday was a bit better. And I made myself walk down to check the mail. Today I'm still not feeling up to par. Still feel like somebody's got some pins stuck in the groin & shoulders & arms of a poppet made to represent me. But my knees are feeling better, which means I can walk better and get myself out of bed easier. Oh, and the irony is that you can't see ANY of the muscular or joint inflimation causing this EXCEPT on my hands. If you look at the palms of my hands, you can see where the last finger-joints are rather red & swollen. No other indication, from what I can tell, of how rough my body's been doing these last couple of days.

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On to brighter things. I just finished a good book I wanted to recommend.

It is _Garden Spells_ by Sarah Addison Allen. I'm actually somewhat astonished that Alice Hoffman hasn't come after this woman for plageurism. If anybody has ever read the book or seen the movie "Practical Magic", you'll be astonished to find so many similarities between that movie and this book. I DID read the book _Practical Magic_ but found it horribly written with too many characters, too many sub-plots, and no real line of thought. The movie was fabulous, though. Like somebody took the premise of the book and cut and weeded and narrowed and refined and came out with a great movie.

Anyway, reading this book was a LOT like watching that movie. As I said, enough so that I'm rather suprised this author hasn't been charged with plageurism. But, I felt like it was a good book and she did with the story what Alice Hoffman couldn't seem to. (For all that the premise is one that Alice Hoffman thought up/wrote up first.)

It is, two magical sisters, one magical house that's a part of their family history. One of the sisters has a child, one of the sisters has an abusive/controlling ex. One of them has major abandonment issues. There's no duo of wierd aunts, but a wierdly funny distant cousin who always knows just what somebody else needs, but never knows WHY that person needs this item. (At one point the cousin stops by the main character's house with a lighter and just gives it to the woman and says "here, this is for you". The character knows enough to tuck the lighter into her pocket and keep it with her for a couple of days. Sure enough, before the next day she's found an unexpected need for a lighter.)

It's a funny, sweet, magical book and I strongly recommend it. Not heavy reading. It only took me about 24 hours to read it. (Probably would have taken less time if it wasn't so danged hard finding a comfortable position in which to sit to read.)

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Ok. I need to find something to eat, and to take another puff on my inhaler.

Oh, and providing I'm still upright & moving at that point, we've got tickets to go see Trace Adkins in concert tonight. This is a concert Scott has been waiting years for. As in, years ago he said that Trace Adkins is one of the concerts he'd FIND ticket money for, if he came to town. Well, we found out that T.A. was coming to town, and immediately got us some tickets. Scott, Tay and I. Now I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. If I don't go, Scott's Dad will be going in my place. I know he'll enjoy the concert probably more than I will, but I still rather want to go. So, after working 4 hours this afternoon, I'm going to be turning around t come home, changing clothes, then turning BACK around and heading back to town with Scott and Tay. Hopefully. Inhaler and Ibuprofrin in tow.

Have a Blessed Day!