Down & Out...

Kevin

Code Monkey
Staff member
If anybody has been wondering where I've been (or cares :()....

I've essentially been down & out for the past week between a combination of weather, cold/flu, and plans. My week more or less looked like this:

- Tuesday: Drive home in sleet/hail/ice storm. Need to stop every 10-15 minutes because the wiper blades on the truck aren't doing a good job. Pick up wife from her parent's because she couldn't make it all the way home in her car.

- Wednesday: Drive 1.5 hours each way to take wife to work out in the middle of nowhere. Wipers still not working. Nobody else on the road. The drive home reminded me of the scene in The Shining where the family arrives at the Inn in the storm. Think I picked up a cold or a flu... whole body is flush. Try to work from home but can't type on laptop with fluffy white dog jumping up on lap. Go to sister's to borrow her snow blower; it doesn't work in the ice crusted snow. Shovel as much as I can from the driveway and walkway to the front door. Pick up wife from co-workers house half-way to her office. Wipers still not working.

- Thursday: Drive wife to her parents house in the morning to retrieve her car. Cold or flu is getting worse... either that or my office has the heat turned up and I'm sweating like I'm in a steam room for that reason. Have some great Jambalaya for lunch. Go home, I'm parched... have some orange juice. Yep, definitely a cold or flu. OJ after Jambalaya not a good idea apparently. Not good. Back outside for a few more hours to scrape the ice from where I shoveled yesterday; wife won't listen to my suggestion of getting a 4x4 instead. Getting hotter. I'm not well.

- Friday: It's hot. Cold. Hot. Cold. No, no, it's hot. Every muscle in body hurts from shoveling and scraping. Feels like I've swallowed some wet sand and is now stuck in my throat. Can barely move. Going to work today doesn't happen. But at least I can get some sleep. Sister comes over to check on dog; I forgot about her checking in on fluffy dog. Asks me every 30 minutes if she can get me anything. "No, leave me alone." Comes back later... "You want anything yet?" OK, no sleep, very short naps. Wife comes home.... Oh, yeah, we had to plans to visit her sister & BIL on the last night before the move into their new house. Get a hot shower and pretend I'm awake; cold air keeps me awake during the drive. Wait, if that's tonight then that means...

- Saturday: ... today is when I promised that I'd help them move. Get up early and head out the door. Lift washer up flight of steps, try to breathe. Carry furniture down flight of steps, try to breathe. Carry boxes down flight of steps, try to breathe. Load up truck, try to breathe. Unload stuff, try to breathe. Carry furniture up flights of steps, try to breathe. Wait, what do you mean the new house has three flights of steps?! Unload, lift up, try to breathe. Repeat until the afternoon. Go home at night. Crazy fluffy dog won't let me sleep. Get back to bed around 1:00am or so.

- Sunday: Wife takes care of fluffy dog, I can finally sleep. Wife checks in on the hour like clock-work. OK, short naps instead of sleeping. Finally get a few hours of straight sleep. A hot shower reveals bruises up & down both arms, legs, hip, and various scratches & scrapes. HHHmm... moving yesterday must not have gone too smooth. Body still hurts, talking still hurts, but in general everything feels better than it did in the morning. Several mugs of hot tea help.

- Monday: Ah, the start of a new week. Body still hurts but cold/flu is starting to crack a bit. Got a hot shower but still groggy. Reach for the Chloraseptic spray bottle on coffee table... that doesn't taste like Cherry. 3-4 sprays later I realize I'm spraying the dog's Bitter Yuck spray directly in my mouth. I thought the coughing hurt... dry vomiting after not eating for the past several days hurts even worse. The taste won't go away. Eyes are watering. Fluffy dog is staring at me; I'd swear he's laughing at me.
 
good grief Kev...at some point you have to put "you" first and take care of yourself ;) Man I really hope you get better soon! I'll help keep an eye on the house while you're out...don't worry. I will be around until next weekend when my own move to the new house commences and then spending time after that getting the current one painted and ready for the market...so I'll be MIA myself after this week.

Take care of yourself and stay away from the dog's medicine ;)
 
Of course I care sweetheart.

You poor baby - god just reading that almost makes me hurt for you.
I hope you get better soon. I'll be saying a prayer over here. :smiley:
 
Thanks for the well wishes! The cold/flu is starting to subside and it's now at the "Oh-god-it-hurts-to-cough-&-sneeze" stage. The body still hurts but not as bad as it did over the weekend. A very important lesson I did learn though: Do not let fluffy dog 'nip' your arms where the bruises are! :eek: Being sick... OK, I can handle that. Being physically beat... OK, I can handle that. Both at the same time? Apparently I'm getting old. 😪

John, good luck with the move! So how far from your current place is it? Short drive or are you guys moving to totally new pastures?
 
Glad you are on the mend...nothing's worse than being sick and not being able to rest properly! Tell us, how did that dog spray taste really? ;)

Moving only about 10 minutes away and the weather is supposed to be in the 60's and sunny finally...just in time woohoo!
 
Back
Top