The Influenza

This week I have been sicker than I have ever been in my life. (Pretty sure. I know I've never had the flu, and I can't remember ever being this sick.) This is not an exaggeration. However, I have also been in a remarkable mood! I am coughing and coughing and coughing. I am woozy and unstable with fever. I am radiating with aches from my very core. I am wearing the same clothes I have been wearing since Wednesday night when I came home from school, put on the comfy pants, and collapsed into my bed. My eyeballs hurt. On Thursday night I had so much gunk stuck in my poor raw throat that I couldn't breathe, and bawled and hacked my way through it until I was a sad sad mess on the kitchen floor and my mother threatened to haul me to urgent care right then. I refused. I did request a priesthood blessing though, and the bishop and my step-dad happily and quickly obliged. I felt instantly calmed, and have such huge amount of gratitude for the men in my life who live worthy to assist in these little miracles. Friday morning we went to the doctor. I listed off my symptoms and our very cheerful and helpful doctor came back from testing my nose swab (Please note: the "swab" they take to test for the flu is actually a rigid bamboo stick with a very small amount of cotton on the end of it that they shove up your nose as far as it possibly can go before giving you brain damage. This is not pleasant, but it is quick.) with this sentiment: "Well, you have influenza. I apologize if this is morbid of me to say but I'm so excited I got a real bona fide Influenza A reading with all the symptoms!" She informed me that I had luckily come in within the first 48 hour window and would therefore be able to benefit from the five day flu prescription drug and that I should stay home and away from other people until I finished that prescription. And if I even looked at anyone else they would burst into flames and die. Okay she didn't say that last part, but I basically understood that if I breathed the wrong way anyone around me would end up in my state and that's the last thing I wanted to have happen.

Needless to say, all my weekend plans were cancelled. Grudgingly. (Even the night before I was hoping that my sobbing mess was the worst of it and I'd be allll better by the next afternoon just in time to go with Kase to spend the weekend with his family, hanging out and cooking and watching the Super Bowl (commercials:). In stead, I sent him off alone and resigned myself to look on the bright side anyway. And do you know what? It's working. I have been making Influenza jokes all weekend! (I noticed that the doctor who diagnosed me never called it the flu, always influenza. I feel like that is a much more dignified name. And it sounds exotic. Which is cool. I am disappointed that I had to miss out on my weekend in Roy that I was so looking forward to, and even a stranger on the street could probably look at me and see just how much I like plans that fall through at the last minute. Who knows, maybe it's the fever, but I have been surprisingly okay with this. I know full well it's a sign from my body to take a minute and slow down. Take a deep breath. Rearrange my priorities. Toss a few things out the window. And be grateful for what I have! Because I am SO blessed.

This afternoon I am feeling much better. I am sitting here at my makeshift folding work table, since my pretty little desk is just big enough to be a shelf for all my art supplies and such. Dreading another hundred point drawing assignment, and plotting to call out of class tomorrow anyway.. Watching "Julie & Julia" on repeat as I contemplate making the bed, making some more art (My way. Suck it Drawing&Perspective.) or making some lunch. Missing Kira like crazy. Wanting to cook! Wanting to be creative. Wanting to paint something. That's what I really want to do. Not feeling at all like I'm going to just drown in my to-do list and probably die a slow, slow death by charcoal pencils. Honestly, this has felt like more of a vacation than five days of the flu. I haven't done anything! I've slept in late, watched a few tv shows, napped for hours, eaten a ridiculous amount of cough drops, probably not the best for my tummy, but oh so nice for my throat. I'm sick, yeah. And I probably won't be feeling 100% for another couple of days, but I'm actually still feeling very happy. Feeling very blessed. And feeling like next year there will be a flu shot in my life. :)

I hope everyone enjoys the football game today!! I'll be watching happily from my living room and probably laughing my husky influenza laugh at the commercials. Man, I love Super Bowl commercials.
(Influenza... Haha:)