Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Hanging in there -- kind of

Thanks for your notes. It's been about five days since I've felt really well. I am guessing I've been plowed by the Norovirus -- the fancy official name of the stomach bug. Some days I'll start feeling better, and I'll take a chance and eat something. And that can be a serious error in judgment!

I've not gotten much sleep -- this thing seems to like to attack me in the wee hours of the morning, and with a vengeance. So, interrupted sleep, lack of food, lack of appetite, lack of energy -- makes daily life a little more difficult.

There's nothing that can be done medically, so I guess in a day or so this will have run its course and I can start recovering. I left work early today to try to get some rest, and it was nice actually getting to sleep for a couple of hours this afternoon.

One thing I worry about is how it all affects my blood sugar. I've tried to keep some sick day supplies on hand as recommended in the diabetes education classes, just to keep from going completely haywire.

Last night I covered a police department appreciation dinner -- the chief had invited me and gave me a free ticket for the dinner. I have a lot of respect for the department and was happy to cover the dinner. It was a great meal, too, but I could only eat a small portion and still paid for it all night. They had ham -- one of my favorites. And it was a HUGE portion. Oh well, can't win them all. I was happy with what I could manage, for a while. LOL.

Anyway, enough of that. I still haven't gotten my car in to get it repaired. I'm making myself a note to get started on that tomorrow. The insurance company part is all taken care of. I just need to take the car in to have them see what work they have to do, then schedule a time for them to do it and a rental car during that time.

I'm also planning to go to Tulsa on Saturday to meet up with some old friends from my previous handbell choir at a bell festival. And I'm thinking of renting a car over the weekend for safety's sake -- don't want to risk having some hidden damage become suddenly apparent on that trip. Ideally, of course, my car would be in for repairs and I could just have the car over the weekend while the insurance covers it. Is my luck that good? We'll see... But weekend rentals are not horrible at any rate, in my experience.

I'm happy to report my schedule this week has not been as heavy as last week, when I worked 55.5 hours (another half hour would have made 7 work days!) I guess I picked the right time to be down sick.

I'll be very happy when the weather starts to get milder. In another month, we should be getting our first hints of springtime weather. I have great memories of flying kites on St. Patrick's Day. Boy, would that be fun!

OH! Speaking of fun -- my fun assignment yesterday was covering the opening of a new playground at one of the elementary schools, built by the PTA parents and community volunteers! Wow! Talk about excited kids! I was up taking pictures from the top of the fort, and a preschool girl grabbed my hand and said "Teacher, you need to slide too!" So down we went, together, on the double-wide slide. Wow, was it fast! I think I aggravated an old tailbone injury though, as we came to the end. I didn't realize it until I was trying to get out of bed in the middle of the night.

Here are the kids saluting the volunteers who built their playground:

Photobucket

8 comments:

Sarabeth said...

Glad you are kind of on the mend.

My parents helped build the playground at my elementary school. I was so proud of them that weekend. Your post brought back those memories.

Oh, the kids got their cards on V-Day and loved them. The fuzz has worn off the soft parts. So lovely. Maybe knowing that my kids were smiling (I showed them the post of the "many faces of Trixie") because of you will help hasten the healing process!

Trixie said...

Awww Sarabeth! Thanks!! That definitely makes me feel better! I hope my photos didn't scare them!

Anonymous said...

I am glad you are better. I had a good day with my kido's. Have a very busy wkend again.

Hope you have a much needed restful weekend. Everyone I know that has come down with this has suffered. It is a hard one to kick. God bless and keep ya
Jeannie Diane

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you're kicking again. Just keep up on fluids and rest and it'll be gone sooner than later! :)

SBB said...

Trixie, I find a little white rice with butter and sugar and cinnamon really helps settle my stomach when I'm in the middle of an IBD flare. Yes, it's not the best diabetic food, but the cinnamon helps control blood sugar and I use the sugar as sparingly as possible. The carbs in the rice are very soothing. DO NOT use brown rice. It's harder to digest. And of course, dry toast and sips of room temp water. (Cold water and beverages can lead to cramping.) And you might try this: a cold washcloth placed on your lower stomach. It's an old remedy, and I've found it actually works.

Anyway, I hope you feel better soon.

Erudite Redneck said...

Yikes. That Norovirus is some baa-a-aad stuff, I hear.

Anonymous said...

Are you back in the land of the living yet? :)

Erudite Redneck said...

Hope yer OK!!