The sickness!

Yesterday around 3 AM I was awoke by severe stomach pains. I fell back asleep, and by 7 AM my entire body ached. It was/is not a head cold, but more like a stomach virus/bacteria. I am not quite sure what to call it. It reminds me of cotton fever or PAWS. The symptoms were joint pain (every joint in my body, including fingers and toes) and bone pain, mostly in my arms and legs. I had the runs all day yesterday, and felt nauseous a few times throughout the day. By the afternoon, I was moving very slow, as every step I took was a painful reminder of days long gone when my addiction caused my body severe turmoil.

I relocated myself throughout my house at various times. The basement was a good place to be when I was having hot flashes because of the cool dampness that envelops that space in the summer. After the hot flashes would subside, I would get the chills and have to relocate to the backyard where the temperature and humidity would warm me up. It was a cycle that continued throughout the day.

I did manage to go to the bank and to the store to get some liquids, but that took me three times as long as normal. My movements, as stated earlier, were very slow and laboring. I finally understood how my Grandfather Les felt during his cancer battle. There were times he would drop stuff because he was so weak and all his limbs hurt. He used to get so upset with himself because he could no longer function as an independent man. I felt like that yesterday. I mentioned that it felt like cotton fever or withdrawal, and it did. It could be equated to the 2nd of heroin withdrawal. At that point, the 2nd day would be all body pain and the relieving of the bowels. I know it is a disturbing take on the way I was feeling yesterday, but it was the truth. I went and bought some Tylenol PM when I had to go pick up my mother at work. I came close to passing out at the Walgreens and had to have my mother finish the purchase while I slumbered to the car. When she came back to the car with the pills, I opened them and my weakness made me drop the entire bottle upside into the car. It is a bad feeling when you don't have the strength to hold an aspirin bottle.

When I arrived back home, I waddled back into the house, and straight to the basement. I laid there for hours, and then the pills began to work. I started to nod off, and tried to get comfortable for some much needed sleep. I finally drifted off around 9 PM, and then I was awakened by a loud lightning crackle and the thunder that followed. I could hear the rain pouring down outside and my mother came into the basement and asked me if I was awake, which I replied yes I was. She was worried about the sump pump and wanted to know if I should close it so the basement doesn't flood. I told her to call my father and ask him since he knows more about it than I do. I know how to close it, but I wasn't sure if it was needed. The storm seemed to be pretty vicious, as I look outside this morning at sunrise and see tree branches strewn across the backyard and deck.

The Hawaiian plants that I have been growing for my mother seem to be doing well, I guess they enjoy those types of storms. Some of them moved a bit, but they all seem to have grown since yesterday. Maybe it was the nitrogen from the lightning strikes. Well, today I do feel better. I still have the runs, but I think that is just the ending of a wild 24 hours. Thankfully I was off work for two days, because I would not have been able to do my job yesterday. It does suck that I worked seven days in a row, and my days off have to be spent nursing myself back to good health. The joint pain has subsided, not entirely, but I just feel weak and sore. I do have my strength back though, so that is a good sign.

Where did this illness come from? Well, my parents and sister Katie went to a graduation party about 2 weeks ago, and Katie and my father ate some sausage at the party, which caused both of them to become very ill. That illness was passed to my sisters Gwen and Erica, my grandmother, and Katie's fiancee Josh. They were all ill last week, and here I am ill this week. I had just gotten over a head and chest cold a few weeks ago, so I didn't think I would actually get sick. I guess I was wrong. Hopefully, I am the last of the people to catch this. It was a bit more than 24 hours that I have been sick, but I guess there really is a 24 hour flu, which I never really believed in the past.

My sister Gwen had cooked a white bean chili with chicken on Monday night, and I thought for sure she had poisoned me. I didn't say that to her because I didn't want to hurt her feelings, and I am glad I didn't because it wasn't her fault. Well, that is my spiel for the sickness, and I can only hope I am back to 100% tomorrow for work.