Things I Learned This Week

Last Sunday night I became rather ill rather quickly. On Monday, the doctor diagnosed it as "garden variety" influenza. I missed the entire week of work. Today, Saturday, I went outside my front door for the first time in 5 days. I am not contagious, but I'm not completely well, either. I did pick up a few things at the store, and am doing more home chores, but even now, I feel like I could lay down and take a nap. However, just because I was trapped in this house inside four walls for a WEEK doesn't mean I didn't learn anything. I learned stuff! I feel as if I must share this crucial knowledge with the world and although, it doesn't take a genius to figure these things out, it does take experience. There's nothing that will teach you better about life than going through it yourself. Otherwise, it's just words on your computer screen. So for what it's worth, here's what I learned:

1. The worst place to be when you are sick is the doctor's office. Doctor's offices were not built with sick people in mind. You go into a brightly lit waiting room and sit in uncomfortable waiting room chairs. You get called back to the little exam room and again, bright lighting and uncomfortable furnishings are there for you to enjoy. If you want to befuddle the nurse, lay down on the exam table, like I did, and ask for a pillow. I think if they really were wanting to offer services for the sick, they'd have a regular waiting room for people with ingrown toenails, boils, and hair loss, but a second waiting room set up with dim lighting and clean cots, with pillows, sheets and blankets for, here's a novel idea, SICK PEOPLE. You'd camp out there and snooze until the doctor came in to see you. You wouldn't care if he was 45 minutes late then. At least you wouldn't care as much.

2. While you are recouperating at home, there's not much on TV to watch during the day. I have cable so I have a few more options, but the pickin's are slim. Other than "Dog Whisperer" and the westerns on TVLand, there's not a lot left. I could only watch the entire hour of Price is Right one day out of five. I don't know how people stand it.

3. Being sick sucks the energy out of you like a black hole. One day I threw one load of laundry in the washer, put a few dishes in the dishwasher, then napped for 3 hours. And, like a black hole, other things are out of time sync. It takes longer to recouperate than what you think it will. You spread germs faster and further than you think you do. You move slower, you think slower. You are in your own universe of time and space. When darkness falls, you sorta come to and think, "What time is it? 8:00? It's about time for bed..."

4. You cannot hurry up the recouperation process. When you have influenza, all you can do is treat the symptoms, and those not very well. In treating those symptoms, I learned it's better to mix your own drug cocktail than to take a multi-symptom tablet. And, it's nice to already have them on hand so you don't have to try to explain to somebody what you want or need. I know exactly what works for me and what doesn't. I plan to have a supply available as I never want to walk into a Walgreen's and try to decipher the maze of brightly colored drug boxes through a fog of flu brain.

5. All the work that's piled up for me is waiting for my return on Monday and the best part is, the sky didn't fall down over two schools because I wasn't there. Nobody is indispensible. Some people's work is waiting on my work, but it'll just wait. Some meetings were postponned because I wasn't there, and they'll just wait. Some decisions were tabled and they'll be made later. Because my life came to a halt, in some ways, other people's work was affected, but-that's life.

So that's what I learned. Last comments: I am grateful it was just the flu. Many others face far more serious illness than that and with a lot more grace and dignity. I think of a person I know who continues to work in spite of weeks of chemo, weight loss, hair loss, and a general body shut down. We know what's going to happen. She does too. Still, she comes and does her job, and smiles brightly when she says hello. She works in spite of the pain, and I'm looking forward to seeing her Monday morning. I need that cheery hello from her, and a reminder that I have a lot to be thankful for.