Sick Of Being Sick

Monday night Jennifer & I were on the couch, watching some TV and enjoying the quietness of the kids fast asleep. No hustle, no whining, no arguing over what to watch...just me and my wife enjoying some hot tea and foraging through another repeat of "The Office".

Which is still funny the second time. We cant' wait for the "new" season to kick off again in April.

That's when it hit me though. A tiny tickle in the back of my throat that I couldn't seem to get rid of. All the coughing, the sneezing, the clearing of the throat and drinking some honey & lemon tea did nothing to quell the cough.

I realized it was either going to be a case of reflux or I was about to take a little trip down "Febrile Lane".

Tuesday morning as I woke up to cold, prickly fingers racing up & down my spine and a stuffed up head, I knew which journey I was about to embark on.

My wife, being a doctor and constantly thinking in pure medical terms, doesn't really offer me a lot of sympathy. Whenever I feel sick and want to describe my symptoms to her, I hear the same response time & time again...

"It's probably just virile and nothing can be done for it at this point."

You know, I understand this but sometimes a little empathetic look from her deep brown eyes and the gently stroking of my head would go miles in making me feel better.

I'd been bundled up on the couch wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt AND a San Diego Chargers sweatshirt in hopes to keep some of this body heat in. However, I got too hot and took off both shirts to walk around topless in hopes of cooling my chest off that way. I was moving around quite gingerly because I was also achy too. I began to inch my way over to a laundry basket to find me a new shirt as the "fingers" and cold pricks all over my back began to really reach an all-time high.

However, instead of sympathy, this is what I got.

"Oh come on. Quit being so dramatic and put a shirt on and go to bed if you feel that bad."

I'm not sure what was worse. The pain of knowing I was sick OR the pain of her sharply piercing comments that cut me to the bone. I whimpered something under my breath, found a new shirt and went into the study to surf the net for a while.

She later came in and apologized to me for being so mean, offering to me that she was only that way because she doesn't like to see her loved ones sick. I reminded her that she's still a woman, a mother and a wife and it's OK for her to be tender, loving and nurturing. LOL

Sadly though, I slept upstairs in the guest room to keep her from getting any of my germs. I've been walking through the house today, when I feel like I can w/out getting too dizzy, taking Motrin every 4-5 hours and sipping some more hot tea. I went to go see a doctor today at a walk-in clinic, a doctor Jennifer recommended, and I told her of my symptoms.

I explained that I'd been real hot during the night but was unable to take my temp due to a lost thermometer. I'd wondered if I'd hit well above the 100 degree mark and asked the doctor if she thought I had the flu. I'd also mentioned that my wife had already laid out the "it's probably just a virus" explanation but this time, I was certain I was really sick.

After a quick swab and some tests to see if I was positive for the flu, she returned to me and said "well, you're not going to like me much because I agree with your wife. It's just a virus."

Jennifer laughed out loud when I told her about it later. However, I was able to get some antibiotics to help out with the cold and am anxious to see how they help.

I'm just hopeful that Jennifer's "virile" explanation will have run it's course by tomorrow night so we can then look ahead to the weekend.