I think I'm dying from a cold

On Friday I did something I have never done before in my entire life. It was suspenseful and exciting. Any guesses? No? Prepare yourself, I threw up at work. Yes, indeed. How's that for an accomplishment? I trust you are impressed. I woke up Friday morning feeling fine. I had gone to the gym the afternoon before and had done a full hour on the elliptical. All was right with the world. I walked to work as usual, but a third of the way down the final long corridor I have to walk I started to get that metallic saliva-y taste/feeling in my mouth. Oy vey, I thought, and stopped at the drinking fountain. That seemed to help a little bit, but I didn't really think much of it. I just figured it was because I had taken my two medications at the exact same time w/o food (the one is supposed to be taken w/o food, the other I've never had trouble with before) and that as soon as I got to my desk I could eat my bowl of cereal and that would calm things down.

Not so much. I took one bite of my cereal and was racing for the restroom with a tissue pressed to my mouth. Thank heavens I get to work before anybody else in my area and nobody saw me. I puked my guts out (one whole bite of cereal) and then dry heaved awhile. It was charming. Oh yeah, I threw up on my sleeve, so that pleased me. I usually just wear a fleece at work over whatever work clothes I choose in the morning, but that day I was actually wearing a nice little jacket. Thankfully, I leave a fleece here at work so I rinsed the sleeve and hung the jacket on my chair. *sigh*

I didn't feel too bad after that, at least for a couple of hours, until I started to feel as if throwing up again was an option. My boss was in a meeting until 9:30, and I didn't want to leave until I saw him. I had also wanted to stay because the department was scheduled to have a meeting with our Big Big Boss about the fact that we, as a department, no longer had a Big Boss and that the Big Big Boss would be acting as our Big Boss for the time being, in addition to being the Big Big Boss for at least two other departments. Bossman assured me that the Big Big Boss wasn't probably going to tell us anything that we didn't already know, he just wanted to make us feel welcome and as part of the team, since our Big Boss wasn't very good at that (example: we used to be split into two groups, Branches & Roots, but two years ago the powers that be decided that it would be better to join us into one group, Tree, but to this day there are people from Branches that don't know people from Roots and vice versa – it's sad).

Once I told my boss that I had upchucked at work and was feeling like it was within the realm of possibility again, he told me to go home, so I did. I slept for a few hours, got up for few hours and then went back to bed where I slept for 12 hours. I had to go out Saturday because we were having our hockey pool re-draft and I had to dump some underperforming stiffs (sorry, Heather, but Liles got the boot), and I had to proxy for my friend Darryl who decided not to drive in from Milwaukee. I didn't have to go off his list, so that was good.

Some of my friends were going out to dinner after the re-draft but I was too sick to bother and went home (had to stop at Murray's along the way as I was out of windshield wiper fluid, which is just not a good thing in Michigan in winter with all the salt on the road, that is, if you like seeing where you're going). I don't remember if there was a nap involved or not. I did, however, go to bed at 8:00 and slept until 9:00 the next morning. And that was the last time I slept. I had to go to Target to stock up on Alka-Seltzer Cold & Cough (daytime version) and by the time I got home I was just drained and collapsed on the couch. I wouldn't let myself nap as I knew that meant I wouldn't sleep that night – which I didn't anyway. I contemplated staying home from work yesterday but since I hadn't slept, I decided I would go to work and then, in theory, be able to sleep last night. Yeah, not so much.

Last night as I lay (lie?) there with tissue stuffed up my nose (isn't that a pretty picture?) in an attempt at God knows what in order to sleep, I came to a new appreciation for people diagnosed with a chronic painful incurable disease who seek out the help of someone like Dr. Kevorkian. I'm not trying to say that my cold is the least bit similar as an incurable disease, but five days of watering eyes, running nose, fever, cough, aches, etc., and being unable to sleep due to all of the above, I can't even imagine how I would feel if I knew it would never ever go away. And for some reason, my beloved Alka-Seltzer Night-time Cold & Cough is not doing its job this time around. Normally, it dries me up and I sleep like a rock when I take it, but it has failed spectacularly the past two nights.

HRH called me yesterday to discuss our plans for Vegas (we finally got a weekend when we think most of the California contingent can make it), she said, "You're sick again?" She sent me the website of some organic mushrooms (called New Defense, I think) that are supposed to help the immune system. She swears that since she started taking them, she hasn't had a cold. What the hell. There's a place a mile from me that sells exactly what she recommends, so I might make my way there today to pick some up.

I'm really ticked because I had gotten into a short groove of working out and then BAM! sicker than a freaking dog. I know you can technically work out when you're sick, but it seems to silly to tax an already overtaxed, underworking body. What are your thoughts on working out when sick?

I know you were all expecting December's Movies Listing, but it'll have to wait. I'm so not in the mood to link. I hope everybody else is feeling significantly better than do!