Just before my teaching part of ski season ended, I started to get sick. I was in the gym on a Tuesday night, and the workout just felt horrible. By the time I got home, I knew I was getting sick. I called in sick the next day, and tried to see a doctor. My normal doctor doesn't work on Wednesdays, so I got stuck with a guy I didn't like very much. (Yes, I realize that living in a small town were I can see my regular doctor most days on short notice is a luxury many don't have).
The doctor was running way behind schedule and they tried to re-schedule me. I felt like death and said I'd wait. Mostly, I wanted some cough medicine and I wasn't going to get any codeine if I just went home. After talking, the doctor said he thought I had the flu. But, I'm guessing because it was so late, he didn't feel like doing a confirmatory flu test, so he could consider giving me Tamiflu. I probably should have fought harder for this, given how long the illness ended up lasting. But, instead, I took a script for a very tiny amount of codeine and went to the pharmacy and then home. I was out sick the next day. I worked from home the day after that.
And then it was my last weekend of teaching skiing. I'd done nothing since Tuesday and I felt like crap, but I skied anyway. It was going to be my last chance to see most of my students and their parents until next winter. To be honest, it was miserable, but I got through it all.
The next week, I managed to get to the gym twice, but it was not pleasant at all. On the weekend, my wife and I had planned a nice trip for 2 to Pittsburgh - some nice meals, a couple nice cocktail bars, and a rare chance for us to see the San Jose Sharks play hockey, at the Penguins. Truth be told, the Sharks only played hockey in the second period. In the first period, the third, overtime and the shootout, they looked clueless Ken Burns played well and Thornton played well and everyone else was just in the way.
After a long drive on Monday, we were back home. I got to CrossFit twice that week, and coughed and coughed the entire way through the workouts. I skied on Saturday, but had zero energy and I called it a day after 5 runs.
Two more days of coughing at CrossFit happened the next week and then it was off to Middlebury for the opening weekend of trout season. I was finally starting to feel better and the cough was finally fading away. Lots of fishing led to no fish at all - pretty standard for opening weekend.
Finally, after that weekend, I got to CrossFit 4 times in a week, although I did take it easy most days. This week, I hope I'm on my way to 4 days again.
This illness took most of 4 weeks away from me. Early on, I was sleeping 12-16 hours per day. I've been tired for weeks. My fitness has regressed. The cough is still not 100% gone. But, I'm a lot better now.
Right this minute, I'm off to do a blood donation - a double red cell donation. That should knock me down for a few days again. I like donating the blood. But, with O+ blood, they want as many red cells as I can spare. I got a nice note from the Red Cross about how my last donation was used (in vague enough terms to not violate HIPAA privacy laws) and that made me feel good.
Time to go visit the vampire.
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