Fever Dreams

I’ve been sick for a day or so, not very long but it’s been pretty uncomfortable. There’s the flu and then there’s the flu. Sometimes you’re okay just staying inside and nursing a head cold, but yesterday was about my body aching and wanting to vomit for hours and hours. Sometimes I could sleep, sometimes I just had to sit there and deal with it.

Once again, I admire so much those who have to deal with chronic pain. I wanted to off myself after a few hours, but some folks feel like that all the time, or a lot of the time. I was wondering when or if the pain would be “too much” and what I would do if it were. Go to a hospital? If I wanted relief, sitting in a waiting room for hours didn’t seem that appealing, and in the end there might not be much to offer for a solution. And the thing is, I have a hospital near by. It’s pretty new, only about a forty minute drive. I doubt I would have to wait more than a few hours, max, and only if there had been a car accident or something major to make it be busy.

Which gets me to Oxycontin. Of course, if I lived with pain and someone gave me something to stop it, and said (although we know better now) that it wasn’t addictive or dangerous, I’d want to take it. I’d especially want to take it if, like in most of rural America, the nearest hospital might be a four hour drive away, not forty minutes.

So, empathy for those who wound up getting screwed by big Pharma.

Today I’m feeling better, but not really tops yet. I’ve managed to eat and it’s managed to stay down. Head still hurts. Also managed to go for a bit of a walk and it was okay. So on the mend!

My partner was also very, very lovely. He’d brought work with him to do while visiting me (we don’t live anywhere close to each other and it was his turn to visit). He was patient and kind and helped me when I needed help and left me alone when I just needed to deal with being in pain. It was helpful that the weather was crap, so it wasn’t like we were missing out on a great weekend of fun activities.

Tonight I have a date with Foro, to eat steamed carrots with rice (sick people food). We’ll just watch the evening news and go to bed, I think.