Summer Flu And Blog Cramps

Barbara: I was doing so well. I felt awesome. The summer has been divine; hot, sunny, carefree. I was getting lots of writing done. My time has been both frivolously and well spent. And then it hit me: achy, crampy joints and muscles, sore tired eyes, heavy chest and itchy throat. What was this, I asked myself??? How was it possible to be so healthy and upright one minute and then positively legs-cut-out-from-under-you flatlined the next?

I crawled into bed—oh the muscle/joint aches were the worst—and succumbed to sleep. But then I woke and discovered I … couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t read, not even your wonderful blog posts, couldn’t (oh the frustration) write, couldn’t enjoy a lunch of Vietnamese noodle soup with my hubby (I love Pho Tai, it must be the best, cheapest comfort food known to man, but what, oh, what was this flu-ridden lack of enthusiasm?!)

24-hours later, the achy joints finally abandoned me (I guess they couldn’t take all the whining), but the fatigue and discomfort linger on. I can’t sleep for all the hacking. It’s a fucking cold, people! Why do I feel so helpless? But it’s also summer and who wants to be forced inside on a summer’s day when there are so very few of them? (and no, neither walks in the sun or half-hearted workouts have managed to “sweat it out” of me.)

And then there was this: this blog, with its funny, sweet little face that I just wanted to pinch and pat. 

Remember this?

And even so my daughter and I decide we’re going to play with it a bit, just check out some options (you know girls and their makeovers), and all of a sudden “apply” gets hit and we have crap on the screen and we can’t get the old face back, try as we (she) might. Our lovely readers have already mocked and kindly advised me in the comments’ section, bless their hearts (that’s for you, Karen), but there you have it: blog re-boot by fire. Thank god Deb was sweetly gracious about the whole thing and tagged along on the now-necessary task of a complete overhaul. (is it just me or is Blogger offering fewer template options??? And some really weird neither-here-nor-there colours…)

Just so you know, there have been a few issues working out the width of the new columns so they fit into all browser pages, so please let us know if it’s getting cut off on one side or the other.

Anyway, big thanks to Stefanie for her patient re-tooling and mocking up of the new masthead. Deb and I just love it. Hopefully you do too!

What The Hell Is THAT?!

Deb: Flu season is upon us and my husband and I have both had what I would call “flu light” for the past week. It has not been a picnic but neither has it been too invasive. We have eaten our meals, had our wine with dinner, done our work, Christmas shopped and decorated. Our symptoms have amounted to a combination for each of us of the following: nausea, sore throat, coughing, headache, fever, achy body.

But as I get older and things change in my body I am hit more and more with the “what the hell is that?” syndrome. You know the drill. You are going along with your flu, everything is status quo and you have the checklist of symptoms running through your mind. Tight sore throat––check! Stuffy nose––check! Itching? What the hell is that? How does itching fit in?

In the summer I had a cold with all the usual old cold symptoms and I woke up one day and couldn’t touch my face as It was puffy and tender. What the hell is that?

Last night we were going out to a festive gathering at a friend’s home and the only symptom I had left was my cough. On the way there I was overwhelmed with nausea and had to get out of the car and walk in the cool air. What the hell is that? Nausea was supposed to be over. Once a symptom has reared its head it should have the decency to go away and stay away, am I right?

Then at the party the area of my kidneys started to ache like mad and cause me no end of panic. What the hell is that?

And now when I get a cold, somewhere between the Otrivin and the Buckley’s my tongue becomes covered in cankers. What the hell...

There was a time when I knew where I stood with my flues and colds. I could rely on them for their orderly escalation. Sneeze. Oh, here we go. Tight dry throat. Makes sense. Totally stuffed up with tired itchy eyes. Yes I was expecting that. Starting to cough, tight and dry. Yep. Loosening up. Okay. And done.

But as I lay in my bed at 4:30am last night pumped on Buckley’s, I thought, “Well, at least the damn ITCHING is taking my mind off my cold." What the hell is that?

Barbara: This reminds me of the time when my husband and I were driving somewhere together and I was complaining about these weird, allergy-like symptoms I was having.

Phil has always suffered from allergies and I’ve watched him sniffle, sneeze, wheeze, and itch for hours. I’ve waited while he searched in desperation for his Zertec or whatever medication he’s using at the time. And I’ve sighed with relief when his symptoms finally abated and he could breathe freely again. Man, have I been happy I don’t have those awful allergies, the bane of “normal” life amongst the ragweed, dust, mold, and pets of this world.

Then this one weird day, I was feeling strangely coldish without actually feeling I was getting a cold. It suddenly occurred to me that I might be getting allergies—after all, I was manifesting just like Phil does on any allergy-ridden moment, add to which I’d just heard that apparently people can develop allergies in their older age. Had I succumbed to this unfair and random suffering?

Phil asked if I had a slightly stuffed nose––check. Did I have itchy skin––check. Were my eyes sore––check. He kept listing symptoms and I kept getting more and more distressed. I didn’t even notice when he segued to rather more … unusual shall we say symptoms: could I feel my root follicles, was my back warm, did my chin hurt. When I check, check, checked them all in abject dismay, he got that wicked twinkle in his eye … and suggested I was a little too gullible for my own good. My CHIN hurt … really?! I relaxed and accepted the fact that I was NOT the victim of later-in-life allergies (if ever the victim of my husband’s good-natured teasing and probably some––to Deb’s point––more unusual cold).

Now, Deb, I am NOT saying your symptoms here are imaginary or sympathetic, but your post did remind me of my little tap-dance with hypochondria. What the hell is THAT?