Sadness is called pneumonia

When I was in high school, I used to pray that I would get sick for a day, or even get mono, so I could kind of just pause life. Many people reminded me that it would not necessarily be a pause, but more of a falling behind, but in the high school life....that's not entirely true. I wished this so badly because not only did I never have a break, but I don't get sick....ever, and everyone around me always does. Friends, sisters, my dad, they get sick all the time....but me, never. Except at very inconvenient times.

I only missed one day in three years of middle school, and it was a field trip to see a play that I actually wanted to see in eighth grade. The only other 'common time' for me to actually be a sick and weak human being was the morning before Easter, so I was already out of school Good Friday, why waste another day off of school when I can be sick a weekend I'm already ultra-busy? So pretty much no sick days in high school either. Now onto college.

After a busy weekend in Kansas City, I was definitely sick. Friday, I even took pills. Saturday, I took a two-hour nap while my friends socialized outside. Saturday to Sunday, I slept for 12 hours straight at Laura's house before going back to school. And upon arrival back to school, all I could do was sleep and shiver, so I slept through Monday. Monday afternoon, the student health center tested me and determined that I had a mild type G strep throat, so they gave me some pills and I slept and took those. But Tuesday, it had been nearly four full days of being pretty sick and my fever was still 102 degrees. Not good. So Shelley and Jen drove me to Urgent Care. Where after a flu test and an x-ray, I was told I had pneumonia.

Pneumonia?!?! Really? Yes. So what have I been doing this week? Laying down in my bed and sleeping. Coughing. Drinking water, propel, gatorade. Swallowing more pills than I have in my entire lifetime. That's about it.

I can't even focus on watching TV or a movie. On Wednesday, I woke up at 12:30 pm and thought, wow, what am I going to do all day?! Well, it took me until 5 p.m. to work up effort do do anything. So yes, now I know what it's like to be sick. It's not like I can do homework or get anything done, because you feel that bad that you can just do nothing. I couldn't even eat. From Saturday to Wednesday, all I consumed was two oranges, a sip of soup and a pack of Welch's Fruit Snacks that took me two days to finish. I'm finally onto a semi-normal eating schedule.

Sunday through Tuesday was when I was at my weakest, with 103 degree fever and essentially no energy. I couldn't check my computer without help, could barely respond to texts and calls and couldn't move from my bed or reach anything that wasn't on my desk. It's definitely nice to be mobile again, and the next 12 days are going to throw me off with three more days of class, a ton of days of nothing and three final exams. Two non-cumulative and one writing exam. So it should be an enjoyable finals season celebrating the holidays with friends, knowing I can't be any worse than I was this week, and studying for some exams.

Don't get as sick as I did and have a good weekend!