~and I forgot to take care of myself~

Not very often do I have the experience of being "Laid Out" by sickness.  I get your usual kinds of "run of the mill" things, your colds and such.  Give me a couple of days and I'm over them, ready to go back to business as usual.

Not this past weekend.
Not this time.

Saturday was the final push to get everything done at our old rental home on the other side of town.  We had 48 hours left on our lease and there was at least a good day's worth of stuff to do.  By Saturday morning as I awoke, my throat was really sore and my whole body just felt tired and worn out.  I took some over the counter type medicine, even called the doctor on the phone but was told it would probably run its course and be done soon without anything.  So I waited.

By Sunday morning, things were looking no better.  As a matter of fact, they seemed to get worse.  As we finished up the last of the rental house business about noon, I paused to take a photo of the finished work.  I was feeling feverish and chilled but I took the picture anyways.  Perhaps it was my 60-year old ego that was saying "There! Take that!" to whatever it was that was making me sick.  In less than 20 minutes, I was home and in bed.

By 5 p.m. on Sunday, it was very obvious that I needed to see a doctor before it got any worse.  Mike whisked me off to the ER in Wichita Falls where we waited to get some help.  It was a long wait, as most ER visits seem to be these days.  Everyone was ill, not just me.  I laid my head on Mike's shoulder and waited until it was my time to get help.  After seeing the doctor, I received the diagnosis of strep throat.  It wasn't a surprise to me at all.  They gave me a high powered shot of Rociphen and 5 days worth of antibiotics.  I left 3 hours later with their final instructions to drink lots of fluid and get plenty of rest.  I was happy to oblige.

Yesterday I headed back to school and even though I was tired and worn out, it was good to be back with the kids at school once again.  We have much work to do as we prepare for the state assessments coming later in the spring.  My sweet partner teacher at school brought me a bag full of goodies to help me to get feeling better.  I used every single thing she placed into the brown sack she handed off to me.  It's nice to have someone right next door who cares about me and my sometimes "frail" health :)  

I'm not at 100% yet but I'm getting there.  Little by little, I can feel my strength trying to come back.  It's gonna take a couple of days more before I get back to whatever "normal" used to be before last Saturday morning.  I'll make it though!  This all has been a great reminder, one of those "whacks upside the head" from the good Lord above.  I was doing way too much, spreading myself more than thin.  Between getting my house ready to be sold back in Hutchinson and then moving here to our our new one, getting children ready to do their best on the state assessment and a thousand other things I deemed important, I forgot to do one very valuable thing.

I forgot to take care of myself.

Mike is the best doctor/nurse that there ever was.  He helped me get through it and never complained once!  I hope he doesn't get this but if he does, I've got him taken care of.