FINlos reviews…

…being (somewhat) sick

May 22

FINlosdaily life FINlos, mucus, sick, sneeze, snot 2 Comments

I hate being sick. Luckily, I stay rather healthy for the most part. That is until this year. Warning: snot is present in this entry.

I have been sick more frequently this (school) year than I think I have ever been. I really don’t know what has been causing it. Perhaps it’s that I’m less active than in previous years. Maybe there is something in the school itself that is slowly eating away at me (who knows with “lowest bidder” construction practices).

It used to be that I could expect to get sick one or maybe two times a year. And when it happened I would get very sick, stomach flu, strep, fevers, tonsillitis, mono, you get the idea. But in between those events I would be fit as a fiddle. Things are a little different now it seems. This year I have been plagued by little colds. I’ll get one symptom, like a scratchy throat, or runny nose. It will hang around for a couple of days not really getting better or worse, and then another symptom will show up as the other fades, mucus, congestion, headaches, etc. And this will continue over about a week. Finally, over a second week I will just expectorate and drain all the grossness.

This pattern has continued with my current bout of nagging cold symptoms. On Sunday I woke with a sore throat which persisted through Tuesday. The soreness intensified as post-nasal drip presented itself. Now, for those of you who either don’t know, haven’t experienced, or didn’t realize you were experiencing post-nasal drip, let me describe it to you in plain terms. It’s when the snot drains backwards, down your throat instead of out your nostrils making you pretty much the most disgusting person to be around as you suck, gurgle, hock, and spit your lovely, infectious mucus; or you can swallow it. Yesterday and today the mucus just made itself at home in my sinuses and down into my lungs. So now I sound like a twenty-year smoker with a rattling laugh (Read: FINlos reviews smokers). And I’m leaving out the sinus headaches and muscle tightness.

I know, I’m making all of this sound very exciting and glamorous, like I should be bed ridden with my lovely, caring wife ladling hot, home-made chicken soup to comfort me (which she does not out of duty but because she is awesome and full of win). No, all of these symptoms are annoyingly mild, well below the minimum threshold required to call in sick (and lets face it, trying to find a sub the morning of when most of them have been booked by teachers long in advance is such a fun job; and the treasurer of my school, who not only does payroll, handles all the accounts, and collects all the money, is also the woman in charge of subs, has too much fun as it is). My symptoms are polite enough to present themselves one at a time, giving me warning so that I know they are coming, don’t get bad enough that I can actually take the time to stay in bed and rest properly, and then gently departing so as not to disturb or call attention to themselves as they make their exits. But they still manage to make my day generally miserable as I lose taste, blow my nose raw, and cough up mouthfuls of (now tasteless, thankfully) green stuff that I must discreetly dispose of. Oh, and so much for sleeping well.

I’m at the lots of coughing and spitting stage, it’s very attractive I’m sure. This usually signals that I’m nearly to the end of this bout. I really do blame this new pattern of illness on being exposed to hundred of unhygienic, touchy-feely high schoolers. I can’t decide which is better, getting really sick once, or getting kinda/sorta sick a bunch of times. Either way, there’s too much mucus involved.

Rated two stars for all the gross things that the human body can produce as it fights random, microscopic invaders, the sticky film that won’t stop forming on my tongue, not being able to taste my colorful home-cooked meal, and sinuses that feel like they are stuffed with that neon colored sticky goop you can get form quarter toy dispensers. Oh wait, that’s just my snot. Would have been rated one star were it not for the fact that I am actually able to function, for the most part.