The F Word: Flu

When I started this blog my intent was to keep it fairly light and impersonal--just a hit-and-miss assemblage of a few of the things I find interesting or funny. A place to experiment with AdSense (I'm up to a total of about $2 now, haha). A website to validate myself, yet remain fairly anonymous, when I post comments on other people's blogs. A place to post amusing things I receive in emails so that I can clip them to Clipmarks. A place to post amusing things in a format that I can copy and paste to create a clever email to send to friends. A multi-purpose sort of blog, sans personal information.

From time to time, however, I think that a bit of personal information is warranted here. Now is such a time, because as I look at the paucity of posts over the last few months I am embarrassed by the impression of a lack of effort, interest, or both. Especially if people click the link to this blog to check out the person who made a comment on their blog or on a blog they are following. I toyed with the idea of giving up the blog, but decided instead to reveal a bit of myself in my explanation for not posting much lately.

Unfortunately the excuse is not that I've been too busy partying or traveling. No, the reason has to do with my husband's significant cardiovascular problems which combined with cold, gloomy winter weather have blanketed our household with a heavy mixture of anxiety and depression. For the last nine days my husband and I have been further undermined in body and spirit by a terrible flu that is going around. Since we seldom venture from home these days, I must have picked the virus up from someone at a meeting at the local library on the afternoon of February 28th. We both started feeling a little "under the weather" a day and a half later.

From that point on it was a rapid descent into flu hell--frequent prolonged sneezing, lots of mucous and congestion, excruciating muscle aches and pains, extreme fatigue, headache, sore throat.... No fever, though, that I know of. We reached a point when we thought we would die, and then moved on to the point of wishing we would die and be put out of our misery. One or the other of us was able to rally just enough to forage for food in the kitchen once in a while. I managed to make chicken soup Wednesday (March 5th) but was far too sick to attend an important meeting in town. I also had to miss the planning meeting the next day.

It wasn't until yesterday morning (Saturday)that we were able to creep into town to the grocery to replenish our supplies. We are still far from well, although, mercifully, the sneezing has ceased. My chest hurts down deep and it feels as if I'm being stabbed when I cough. I'm more short of breath than usual, probably due to the congestion, but as long as I just rest I can live with this and not panic. For some reason, though, my blood pressure has soared and I have to be very, very careful to not exert myself much. As if I felt like exerting myself. My poor husband, who feels at least as lousy as I do, has managed to keep body and soul together for our multitude of creatures, in both house and barn. He's a trooper.

Recently there have been other serious and heartbreaking events in my family back in the USA that I won't go into here. There's not been a lot of joy in my life lately, but I'm still hanging in, monkeying my way through life's trials and tribulations. I could use some good vibes if you have any to send my way.