I Hate Being Sick

I really do hate being sick. It kind of feels like "failure". Now I know that is not the reality of it, but when I am sick I don't do all the things I need to do. So I feel that I let others down.

Some weeks ago, I got a sinus infection. Now I have had perpetual sinus infections since I was a kid. So this was nothing new to me. So I fought it off the best I could without going to the doctor. And I managed to keep up my chores and duties.

Then it really hit me. And I mean hit me hard. Instead of just a stuffy nose, I was running fevers, coughing, and my nose was starting to bleed from the infection. In other words, it whipped me.

Well about the same time, my daughter came down with near identical symptoms (except for the nose bleed thing) and we were both miserable. Aches, pains, fevers, coughing, sore throat, the works.

Now shortly before we got hit by this, my son had this kind of thing. But he did what comes natural to him, he slept. He literally slept for 2 days. And you know what, he did not have as many problems as us and it did not last as long. But my daughter and I are still miserable, but being tended to lovingly.

Now let me tell you about my wife. My wife is awesome. She has taken care of me and her step-daughter unlike anything I could have imagined. She has seen to it to lessen our afflictions in all ways she could possibly. And she picked up my slack and was doing the things I should have been doing. I am a blessed man.

Now it was at the urging of my wife though that I finally decided to take myself and my daughter to the doctor. So today, we drove 34 miles to an "urgent care" facility. It is one of the few places you can get in without making an appointment months in advance it seems. Anyway we show up this Monday morning and I knew there would be a wait. When the lady told me the wait would be about 1 hour and 45 minutes, that was ok, we needed to be there.

So my daughter and I sat in the waiting room and watched some daytime tv. We watched Tyra, The Price Is Right, Dr. Phil, and a little bit of a soap, before we finally got into the doctor. That is because we ended up waiting 3 hours and 20 minutes to get in to see the doctor.

Now once in the exam room, we were there only 15 minutes. The doctor looked up our noses, in our ears, and in our throats. He came back with prescriptions for a couple of Z-packs and some cough suppressant, and we were on our way.

So tonight, we have already taken the first dose of our Z-packs. My wife made me take a bath in epsom salts to ease the general aches. And I took my cough suppressant. So right now, I feel much better. I know I have a ways to go yet, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The last few nights of barely sleeping and coughing all night long were really taking a toll.

So I hate being sick. But I got to see love in action while I was sick. My wife loved me through all those aches and pains. My wife loved her step daughter like her very own child as well. Because I was sick, I have an even deeper appreciation of my wife. I suppose I could say I was blessed with being sick.

I still hate being sick though.


Copyright 2006, Kevin Farley (a.k.a. sixdrift, a.k.a. neuronstatic)