Thursday 4 April 2013

Sick, Sick, and Sick - So Tonight We're Eating Asian

Stimpy, my ferret, has been sick for a couple of days. For anyone who doesn't follow this blog regularly, he's presumably got two types of cancer. He might very well be on his downhill slide, but I still have hopes that he'll pull through again. He's regained interest in eating, and he's walking around fine again. His medication may need to be increased. His pancreas are affected, so he needs to be on prednisone which increases his blood sugar levels. He gets nauseated and listless when his blood sugar drops, so I've been syringe feeding him some very watered-down food. He started eating kibble a little earlier, so it looks like the crisis has passed for the time being, but I'll have to keep an eye on him.

My daughter has had a nasty cold for about a week now. She actually had to call in sick for two days, but despite the fact that she's fairly new at her job I don't think there's a problem there. They're aware that she really is sick, and since she's handling food for customers it's probably for the best that she stayed home those two days. She doesn't get sick very often, either. Once every two or three years. Luckily she seems to have a good immune system. When she does go down sick, though, it's usually pretty harsh.

It's been almost two weeks since I started feeling these knife-like sensations in my own lungs. It was on the same day that we were going to the fundraiser for the Cannon Street fire victims. I was having a hard time breathing, but we went anyway and had an absolute blast. We saw some great live bands, and an awesome performer, which you can check out in the videos I posted in this blog entry here. It was worth the risk of going out. Never mind the raffle prizes that we won, along with all the other fun we had, which I talk about here, in the blog entry I wrote as soon as I got home from the event.

For a few days I thought I got off lucky, and that I wasn't going to get sick. Whatever I felt that one day seemed to have disappeared. The operative words being, 'seemed to have,' since it all came back with a vengeance. Now I've got some sort of chest cold. There's coughing, wheezing, gross stuff getting hacked up, sore throat, headache, etc. I sound like a NyQuil commercial. I can only hope it's not something more serious. I used to get bronchitis almost every year. A few years ago I got pneumonia pretty bad, but once I got out of the corporate racket I stopped getting sick every year. I was able to sleep when my body wanted to sleep, which was during the day, instead of trying to subsists on about 3 hours' sleep a night.

The problem is, I've recently been going through weeks of insomnia, so the lack of sleep has obviously been a contributing factor. I've been stressing about Stimpy's cancer, the fact that I'm going to have to go for surgery again, money, you name it. The money situation is fine these days, but the other two issues aren't going away any time soon. There were other things on my mind, but I let those things slide. They weren't going anywhere, anyway, so I gave up on them. I don't do that when it comes to things that involve only me, but when they involve other people then it becomes a situation I have no control over so I have to walk away. I've got too much on my plate right now to be worrying about everybody else around me.

The upshot to all of this is that I'm wiped out, three of us in the house are sick, and we've ordered some Asian foods to make us happy. I can't say Chinese food, because I don't think it's all Chinese, although I'm not entirely certain. I think we'll have to watch another movie tonight, too. We watched Rise of the Guardians last night, which was pretty good, and I think Wreck-It-Ralph will be up for tonight. There's one benefit to me getting sick, and it's that my brain and body shut down enough that I can actually sit still to watch a movie for two hours. Hell, the way I'm feeling right now I could probably watch a Star Trek marathon.

Yes, that means what you think it means...I'm a Trekkie. I love Star Trek. I love the whole premise of it. On Twitter those are pretty much the only celebrities I follow. There are only a few others. I love what Gene Roddenberry was trying to do with it, and where he took us. The people who grew up as fans of Star Trek most likely grew up with a different vision of how this world should interact. Races and religions could co-exist peacefully. I truly believe all that is possible, if we can open our hearts and minds to people. As much as being an activist can be difficult, I see progress in this world, and I see hope.

Since I feel like crap tonight, though, I'm going to leave off the extended lectures and rant, and just get back to having a relaxing evening with good food and entertainment. There's a new episode of The Big Bang Theory being broadcast tonight, but we usually wait until the following day to watch it on the computer. We don't subscribe to TV broadcasts. It wouldn't be worth it for the one show we actually watch, when it's available for free directly from the network.

Hope everyone is having a good evening, and is feeling a hell of a lot better than I am at this moment. I'll be back to my ranting tomorrow, I'm sure.

4 comments:

  1. Your symptoms sound similar to my suffering a couple of weeks ago. If so, I don't envy you. The three of you get well.
    I especially worry for your little furry guy. He sounds a real trooper and you an awesome caregiver.

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    1. Thanks, Marlin. We're working on it. Can't stop wheezing, but eventually we'll get over this.

      I'm soaking some more food for Stimpy, just to make sure he keeps ingesting nutrients. The little bit he's eaten isn't enough, and he's lost weight, so I have to get it put back on him. He needs his strength.

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  2. i still am concerned for stimpy, and you!
    i just got a request to friend a soldier in afghanistan, and we've been talking for about an hour. i asked him how it was there, and he said, "like hell" doesn't help in my worrying about sara! she called a little while ago, i think they're in minnesota. she plans on being here sunday or monday. i'll be in touch-i hope you feel better. i have a sinus infection that is trying to go away, but won't! thanks for getting me sick! :) my best always, sue

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    1. We're doing what we can here. I'm not sure how effective it will be, but we're trying.

      Only a few more days until you see your daughter, so I'm happy for you. I hope they pull out of Afghanistan like they were planning to, though, so she won't have to go there.

      Yeah, sure, blame me for making you sick...lol.

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