Monday, September 29, 2008

Virus In The House

HH is quite ill with The Virus. He called in sick to work today. I know HH was really sick, because he walked behind my chair on his way back to bed for another 8 hours of sleep, held my hand that I had carelessly left within his reach on the top of my head, and said, "I hate it that you have to go to work when you're sick." Some might say it even brought a tear to the eye of Mrs. Hillbilly Mom. Others might say the tear was already there, what with Mrs. HM not wanting to get the kids ready and haul them to school even if she HAD been able to call in sick. SAd that it is easier to go to work that get things ready for a substitute. When I worked for the MO Div of Employment Security, you can bet that I didn't feel the least bit worried about calling in sick. I knew that my folders were left in the rack with notes of their status, and that any state monkey there could jump through the same hoops as I. Without the threat of anarchy from 120 students.

The reason for my reluctance to go to work stems from the relapse that I had with The Virus. After my dose of sweet, sweet Histinex wore off around 7:30 p.m. Sunday, I had a bad case of hacking. I coughed and coughed, with not much to show for it except aching kidneys and the feeling that my eyes bulged out at every cough like one of those rubber stress doll squeezy thingies. I drank water, hoping to thin my juices and cough it up already. I slathered my chest and neck with Vicks VapoRub. At 11:45, I took another dose of sweet, sweet Histinex...and it did absolutely nothing for me. Didn't stop the hacking, didn't make me sleepy. Nada. I spent the night sitting in the upstairs recliner, trying to catch the elusive ZZZs. Around about 1:15, I nodded off to sleep. For 15 minutes. That's how it went all night, until my respite of unawakened sleep from 3:00 to 5:00.

The wheezing is a pain. It lasts all day. It makes me want to cough. So I indulge myself, but to no avail. My mom said her neighbor's daughter and a friend had it for 6 freaking weeks, until they took Mucinex. So on the way home, I got some Mucinex. I've taken it before. I'm going to give it a try if I have another night like last night.

4 comments:

Mommy Needs a Xanax said...

until my respite of unawakened sleep from 3:00 to 5:00.

I find it highly suspicious that MY two hours of wakeful agony are the same two that YOU are able to sleep. Is there some part of you that knows I'm suffering, and rests easier for it?

Hillbilly Mom said...

Miss Ann,
As a member in good standing with the cult of Even-Stevenism, I deduced that the world would be safe on YOUR watch if I was to nod off during the wee hours when you were awake.

See. It's not so mysterious after all.

Mommy Needs a Xanax said...

Oh, I get it. I'm not suffering-- I'm just on duty. :)

Hillbilly Mom said...

Miss Ann,
To borrow a quote from a former lone male colleague, who looked us all over slowly from head to toe after the principal announced that he must think he was working in HOG Heaven...

"Ya got THAT right!"