Infection

I had been perking this for at least a day. Older daughter was due to leave and younger was to take the shift change. There was enough chaos going on in Virginia for Older to want to get home asap. We said goodnight and I fell into a hazy sleep. She would be leaving early the next day.

Fever induced sleep-wakedness is one of those long lonely things that one has to endure sometimes. We all know what it feels like. The skin is dry and you begin to understand the layers of your brain. My gray matter went from simmer to boil and back. The skull played a stellar game of cellular "red rover" holding on to the brains so they wouldn't boil over and leak onto my crumpled pillow. Sweats, fever, sounds piercing the night, no place to hide till morning.The neighborhood drunk was having a bad go of it himself and was screaming combinations of obscenities that were rather creative given the lateness of the hour. And, No. I don't call doctors in the middle of the night, I tough it out. And frankly I would have been in no mood to make that trip to the emergency room at that hour anyway.

In the morning I knew I was really sick, but there was the shift change thing and one was in Virginia and the other on the Garden State. I drank tons of green tea and finally when I knew that younger was close to the house broke down and called the Wizard. He sounded ominous and told me to get to the hospital and that I might have to stay. That shook me, here I had gotten an A+ in recovery so far.

Younger, husband and neurotic dog arrived within a half an hour and I explained about having to go to the hospital, so they dumped their stuff and off we went. I remarked that if I were in Africa I would just get a Z pack and be done with it. Ever the humorist Younger announced that we had access to good first world medicine and we were going to use it.

Hours later, failed IV line and I am home. Indeed I have an infection. Indeed I am going to have to wait it out. Oh and I'm going to get my Z pack after all. The only good thing I can say about being really sick like this is that if you relax into it, you know one day you will feel better, it's just not now.