You Know You've Been On Chemo If...

a standard, minor, run-of-the-mill, non-strep virus knocks you on your tail for, um, going on 6 days now.

Sigh.

Sitting at dinner tonight arguing ("arguing:" a term that currently means trying to speak at a forceful level while at the same time desperately trying to swallow dinner and maintain an "I'm cool" expression when in fact each throat movement makes me feel like some strange, yet to be read about Harry Potter baddy is stabbing me from the inside) with Eric about how I WAS going to work tomorrow I realized, hmm, this must be one heck of a virus if I'm STILL feeling the effects of it nearly a week later.

No, Trela, he responded, you have no imune system. It's having to work overtime to kill the bug, therefore taking longer for you to feel better.

Oh. Well I'm still going to work tomorrow.

With the sudafed and pain killers you're needing to take every 3 hours and 59 minutes precisely?

(sheepishly) Yes. (more forcefully, at least until my throat twinges again) With the drugs. I'll be fine. (shooting the daring "and you can't stop me" look, especially impressive while I'm wearing my striped pajama pants and pink fuzzy slippers.)

At which point my dear husband pulled the secretary card, the card he reserves for dire emergencies, the card that lets me know he's deadly serious. We also call this card "Holly." He's threatening to call our building secretary in person so that she knows to bar the door if I appear at school in the morning. My fear of her wrath is far greater than living with him, so I guess I'm going to let it slide this time...

...but I'm totally going to work on Thursday.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Carpe diem. - Trela

Taking a Day

Here are the babies! Kile hasn't made it into too many pictures recently (partially because it's hard to get him to sit still, but also because if I ask him to smile he does this cheesy-possessed -by-a-zombie-type grin that's too creepy for publication), so I thought it was time to include him. With all of the snow our bird feeders are suddenly very busy and Cavanaugh is disapointed when she looks out at night and sees no activity. Both kids love these plush little guys, though! Mom and Dad have kept us well-supplied in Cornell Labs birds that sound just like the real thing since Kile was about 6 months old. They get a giggle from Cavanaugh almost every time Kile pulls them out. For some reason she finds the Blue Jay the funniest...

Anyway, I'm home alone today, and it's rather strange to be home sick with something NOT related to chemotherapy! After watching the kids and Eric battle a head cold for the last two weeks I myself have finally given in to it 100%. I worked on Friday and had a sore throat that just wouldn't go away. Saturday and Sunday I moped around the house feeling sorry for myself (and boy, can you tell, because this place is a MESS). Yesterday afternoon I decided if it hurt too much for me to take a nap, I probably had no business going to work. I zipped in to my family doctor's this morning, and he confirmed that I was, in fact, sick. Gee, thanks. Actually, I knew it's all he'd say, but I went to make sure I didn't have strep. My temp was a little higher than I thought, so I'm glad I went in for that reason as well. Now I can turn myself back in to that paranoid idiot who checks her temperature every 30 minutes because I'm so terrified of missing it jumping over the 100 mark. So far we're hanging in the low 99's, so hopefully that will be the end of it. I probably should be sitting on the couch right now, but honestly other than this stupid dagger sticking out of my neck, I feel decent, so couch sitting is boring. Maybe I could grade those papers... (see previous posting... oh, and to my former students who I NEVER would have done that to, don't worry, they're cutesy little drawings that the kids already got completion points for, and trust me, these kids aren't sweating it)
Carpe diem. - Trela