Just Plain Sick

Jeff Summers — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:47:55 +0000

As I came home from work last night I wasn’t feeling all that good. Despite a great day at the Diamondbacks Spring Training Ground Breaking Ceremony I just didn’t feel quite right. I skipped dinner and instead decided to lie down.

The next thing I remember was my alarm going off and the clock reading 6:30 AM. Normally I run on around three or four hours of sleep per night but last night I slept for nearly 11 hours. Something was definitely amiss.

When I got up I thought it was very warm in the house. A glance at the thermometer told me I was wrong; it was 68 degrees inside (I left the bedroom window open all night). Trina immediately shoved a thermometer in my mouth. At this point I was hoping it was the oral thermometer and not the other kind.

Within a few seconds it began beeping with a number that looked more like a summer temperature in Arizona than one you would expect to see from a human. Besides the fever, every joint in my body ached. It wasn’t just joints though, I could swear even the tips of my hair hurt.

People deal with being sick differently. When Trina is sick she usually takes a nap then attacks a room in the house. Her theory is that she cannot let the sickness get the best of her. I on the other hand take the exact opposite approach.

I want to crawl into the fetal position with a blanket and my Goofy slippers and moan until the sickness goes away. Trina of course loves this and spends the remainder of the day telling me to suck it up and quit whining.

She is not completely heartless though. She does pamper me just a bit. No matter what kind of sickness I am suffering from there is really only two things that make me feel better. The first is Trina’s homemade chicken noodle soup. The second is a large chocolate-covered cherry Blizzard from Dairy Queen.

I maybe have a Blizzard once a year but it is always when I am feeling ill. Trina must have decided I was not sick enough to warrant a trip to DQ but she did recognize that it would take chicken noodle soup to shut me up.

So while I lay there delirious staring blankly at Rachel Ray trying to cook a turkey breast in 60 minutes using EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and a brick; Trina was in the kitchen concocting her magical soup.

Right now I am still running a fever but the smell of the homemade noodles cooking in the broth I feel a whole lot better. Now if I can just get the images of Rachel Ray out of my head I might just live to see another day.

I Am Sick and Tired

Jeff Summers — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:23:13 +0000

For as long as I can remember I have had asthma. My parents and I chose at a very early age to not let this be an inhibitor to leading a normal life. I was much too active to try and relinquish that freedom and I refused to allow the ability to breathe stand in my way of having fun. This plan of action does have risks and inherent danger especially if you choose to be active in sports. My parents always made sure that my medications were fairly regulated and that I had an inhaler with me at all times in case something should arise during a game. I never quite know what is going to affect my asthma so therefore I just need to be flexible and prepared for the unexpected. The problem is that sometimes I am not real good at noticing the early warning signs of an asthma attack. I can get much too involved in a game to let my body dictate when it has had enough. This has led to some very close calls. I remember in high school while playing basketball I began to feel a shortness of breath coupled with a slight wheezing. Rather than calling time-out during a crucial sequence I chose to wait until a break in the action. Unfortunately that break did not occur before the game ended and by that time I was in dire straits (and I don’t mean the band). My inhaler would not work in that sense and instead my mother rushed me to the hospital for an emergency treatment. It was a costly mistake on many levels.

As I’ve gotten older and a little less active my asthma has been in check a little more. My doctors are very good at making sure I have the appropriate medications and continually monitor my symptoms. I still get an occasional attack but not nearly as often as I did earlier in my life. My body though has taken the brunt of my ignorance and I find that my immune system is not nearly as strong as it needs to be. A cold quickly moves through my system and before I know it, it has settled into my chest and turns into bronchitis. As a guy I would love to just ignore that and let the sickness takes its course. Unfortunately that doesn’t work in my case. Before long that bronchitis becomes pneumonia and I end up flat on my back in bed sick. It’s frustrating and I don’t deal well with being sick. Recently we have had a couple of the kids who have gotten sick. Somehow I have now become the primary carrier of this bug and for the last couple of days I have not been feeling too well. Trina is scheduled to be out of town starting tomorrow so she immediately began calling for doctor’s appointments The doctor got me in fairly quickly and what a surprise; I have bronchitis that looks to be turning into a case of pneumonia if something isn’t done soon. The doctor has prescribed a mountain of medications that when placed in a bowl looks like Lucky Charms. Unfortunately none of these pills taste anything like Lucky Charms. The after-taste of these medications seems to linger on my palette making everything taste like medicine. My throat is raw and I can barely swallow. Overall, life kind of sucks right now. I feel exhausted and drained of energy yet I have work that is piling up unabated. Couple that with the fact that the Diamondbacks are still struggling on the road and Trina is leaving town putting me in charge of Tiffany and Dakota and it is quickly looking like a tough week around our house.

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Just Plain Sick

I Am Sick and Tired