Things I've Learned This Week

Yes, I'm on the mend. I'm taking it pretty easy right now, but things are better, and I even went ice skating today for some nice exercise. And I got my skates sharpened for the first time ever, which was novel and entertaining. So, here is some knowledge I've racked up these last days:

1. My feelings and my functionality need not match.
By all rights, I should have been flat on my back all day Monday. Yet through sheer force of will I walked to and from school and made a valiant effort to say a few things to my students before I sent them out the door. My Mama says I have a strong stomach. I think it's just stubbornness! I often find myself acting normal and even dressing neatly, when I actually feel like crud. So despite my concerns about getting complacent and lazy, I found out I still have a little of the old constitution going.
2. Odd symptoms may coincide with no relationship whatsoever.
The consensus among medical professionals? An uber swollen eye the day after a two-day, fevered bout of a virus isn't connected. I think I would have felt better if they had.
3. The folks at the Wood County ER care about me.
That's right, I said ER. I tried to go to ReadyCare on Wednesday night, even though my eye was better. The nurse barely started the chart before determining that I should go to the ER because they would not be able to perform any needed tests there. I went to the ER and told them how dumb I felt being at the ER when the problem would likely be solved at my physician. And they said, given the problem, I would probably have been referred to the ER anyway. The doctor I had listened to me for about five seconds and seemed to know exactly the problem...allergy-induced conjunctivitis. She thought probably I had an allergic reaction to something that got in that eye, and after tests involving dye and instruments showed nothing else wrong, she gave me some eyedrops and that was that. She was really nice, and no one treated me like I was overreacting, which is what I felt like. But I was really scared Weds. morning, and so was glad to have the problem resolved.
4. Don't joke about rashes.
Making light of the situation, I joked that I would probably wake up with a rash the next day as yet another random health thing to go wrong. Then, in the ReadyCare that night, there was a little boy who was touching everything and sitting on every seat, and he had...you guessed it...a rash. At this point, touch wood, I am rash free.
5. If I don't want Dr. Pepper, I'm really sick.
6. If an illness had made me not want to eat something I have in the fridge, it's okay to throw it away (still working on this one).
7. When you live alone and are sick, make sure someone knows.
Thanks, friends.