For Martha

My sister Martha is not afraid to reach out and say - write something!  It is interesting because I really don't see anything from her but OK, here it is.

I had a four day weekend this past President's Day.  I had lots of plans - catch up on the roses, plant seeds for the spring, harvest my Swiss chard and bokchoy, visit a friend for lunch, errands . . .  Ah to have dreams!  My weekend started Thursday night, rushing back from a day trip to Tuscon (hours of driving in one day!!) for my regularly scheduled 90 minute deep tissue massage.  Great way to start the weekend and it went great.  Friday morning - chills, cough, runny nose, aches, crap!  With the last of my energy I made a run to Fry's for Robitussin, Riccola, fluids and "I feel sorry for myself" kinds of snacks.

I battened down the hatches and did not leave bed until I had to drag myself to work this morning.  In order to stop coughing, I kept sipping water, lots of water.  Tons of water.  Now those who know me know I don't drink enough and that certainly had a part to play in the fact that I have at least one remaining kidney stone, but I will get back to that.  So Friday and Saturday was pretty much sip and pee with a bit of pity party now and then.  Actually it was kind of fun having a pity party.  I pretended I was a guy and whined a lot.  It was very realistic because no one listened to me!!  :)

So Saturday night I go to sleep and an hour in I get the worst pain in my back.  At first I thought it was from coughing so much, but I could not forget this pain ever - I had a kidney stone start to move.  My first thought was CRAP!  The second was NO! NO! NO! and the third thought was Dont' cry like a baby!  Then I started thinking I was wrong, or that's what I get for drinking fluids like everyone bugs me about.  Then I start concentrating on pain management.  For those of you who have experienced it, you know concentration becomes impossible.  I stopped drinking anything and wondered whether it would settle down, but then I thought that I can't not drink for the rest of my life!  After about 5 hours the pain started to diminish and by morning there was just this legacy sharpness.  I guess the praying I resorted to actually paid off.

So Sunday I went easier on the fluids, which meant harder on the coughing, and I kept waiting for the shoe to fall on the kidney stone.  Monday was a repeat of Sunday and then Tuesday morning came.  WORK!  67 unanswered emails, a threat of dire pain, sniffles, wracking cough and leather-skinned nose.  I braved it.  And made it yet again!  Triumph!  To be fair to my colleagues, virtually all of them have already been out sick, so I was one of the last holdouts and I felt no guilt if I brought it to the office.  I also used so much hand sanitizer throughout the day (to prevent contaminating doors, etc.) that my hands could be used for a leather belt.

Then Martha says write a blog!  OK so Martha here is the blog you asked for.  Your deathly ill sister stayed away from her bed to draft what could be her last words before she succumbs to death by cold, or worse, the passing of a kidney stone!  Boy, was all of that fun - see I said I enjoyed the pity party!

Keep healthy people!  None of us is getting younger and each time we get sick we only feel older!