Oh Eight.

Is it really 2008 already?  Wow.  Well we certainly had an "exciting" new years.  When I woke up in NJ on Saturday (the day we were driving home to Pgh) I knew I was getting sick.  I felt like complete crap.  By Sunday the cold was in full swing.  I was taking Advil Cold & Sinus like it was my job.  I also tried some Mucinex to thin out the mucus....that didn't help.  I spent the majority of the day on the couch with Peter close by.  It was relaxing but I'll admit I was pretty irritated that I was sick on my last days off from work.  

Waking up Monday morning was miserable.  I took a shower and got ready for work nonetheless.  Peter and I drove separately because I doubted I would make it at work the full day.  I would have just called off sick but I needed to take care of some employees'  benefits enrollments for January 1.  So I went to work.  I made it 2 hours and called it quits and went home and spent the rest of the day on the couch again.  I felt bad because I knew I wasn't going to feel up to doing anything for New Year's Eve, but Peter reassured me that he didn't care and just wanted me to feel better.  He's so sweet :)  So we fired up the grill and had cheeseburgers and pasta salad for dinner and watched a movie.  Then we watched all the New Year's Eve countdowns on TV and kissed a midnight and went to bed haha.  We're like a couple of old geezers.  We were still very tired from our excursions last week though.  

I had an awful time trying to sleep and starting coughing my head off.  by 4 AM my right lung was preventing me from taking normal breaths so we ended up heading to the ER.  We were just getting on the highway and saw a terrible accident.  Some drunk guy flipped his car and was ejected from it.  Peter got out to see if he was ok (there were other people there helping also and 911 had been called) and apparently the guy had no idea what was going on or that he was bleeding profusely from the head and legs.  Both of his shoes were off and covered in blood and his SUV was completely totaled.  My first reaction was that this idiot almost deserved it for driving drunk but then I said a prayer for him.  I stayed in the car because I was too sick to move.  Eventually the cop let us pass through after about 25-30 minutes.  

The wait at the ER was unusually long since no one else was in there.  They gave me a breathing treatment to loosen things up, but it didn't help too much.  They also took an xray of my chest.  After about an hour of waiting, they told me that the xray was clear but that I had bronchitis.  Great.  So they gave me a codeine cough syrup prescription as well as a spacer inhaler to use.  We went to GE to get it filled because they are 24 hrs but forgot it was a holiday so they had limited hours so we just had to go home and wait.  We went back to bed for a bit and then Peter headed out at 11 to get my meds.  Good thing I get reimbursed for any medications, etc that we buy!  

New Years Day consisted of more lounging in bed and on the couch and having Peter help me walk around since the medicine made me shaky and dizzy and my heart race a bit (which the doctor told me it would).  I'm so lucky to have him be so patient and loving with me.  He basically waited on me and made sure I was always taking my medicine, had some food, had enough juice, etc etc etc.  He's my hero :)  He even had to help me brush my teeth one night because the muscles around my lungs, in my chest and stomach were so sore from coughing and everything.  What a trooper!  

I took off sick yesterday and Peter stayed too and worked from home.  I am glad he did because it allowed me to rest more and not have to get up for my meds and juice, etc.  In the past 4 days I went through 3 full boxes of tissues.  So he also went out and bought me more tissues and more juice.  I've been averaging 64 oz of juice (plus water and ginger ale) every day.  

Today I went to work but was exhausted by the time I even got there just from showering and getting ready.  I told my boss I wasn't sure if I was going to make it the whole day but it was worth a shot because she asked if I even felt good enough to be there.  I had to recount my story of getting sick multiple times when I arrived which also wore me out, especially my throat because talking makes it hoarse and makes me cough more.  So, needless to say, I left early.  I actually made it to 3 and got a lot done, even though I paced myself.  Everyone at work, including myself, didn't know how I made it that long, haha.  

I plan on going to work tomorrow and lasting the full day.  I hate using time off because I'm sick...especially after just having taken 4 days last week for Christmas.  But oh well, what can you do?  Such is life.  Particularly mine because I'm always sick.