On Feeling Sick

It’s all Glenn Hauman‘s fault.

At Farpoint Glenn made a point of saying, “You can’t get sick. You can’t take vacation. You can’t die. There’s a whole industry riding on your shoulders.”

Not that I’m disagreeing with Glenn, but he jinxed it.

I. Am. Sick.

Today I’ve done something I have never done.

I called in sick to work.

Friday I had a tingle in my throat. And it passed.

Saturday? Nothing.
Sunday? Nothing.
Monday? Nothing.

Tuesday? My throat didn’t feel scratchy, but I had a weak cough, and my lungs feel congested. Actually, they felt like there was gunk hanging inside them.

Wednesday.

In the morning I felt good. I had a headache, but that was about it. Then as the day wore on my throat caught on fire, a cough developed, and I couldn’t get warm. I sat in my cubicle, wearing my winter coat and huddled over the computer. I wasn’t warm enough.

On the drive home, I had the heater in the Beetle cranked all the way up. Maximum temperature, maximum blow strength. I still wasn’t warm enough.

When I got home, I got under the covers. I needed blankets. I had my winter coat on under the covers. I was getting warm enough.

When I went to bed, I did strip down. And around three this morning, I woke up and had to change what I was wearing; I’d sweated so much during the night that I was soppy.

I do have a cough today. And it’s a painful cough. It feels like things are ripping apart in my lungs when I “hack.”

So I’m at home today. Taking cold medicine. Taking cough syrup. Drinking Sprite, which I really don’t like, so I’m mixing it with orange juice.

We hates the sickness, Precious. We hates it. Why does it makes us hurt so, Precious?

Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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