This sucks. It really and truly sucks. I don’t know about you, but for us, it seems like every time we get a handle on the economy as it pertains to our income, they go and raise the prices again. You certainly can’t afford to take any time off and still expect to make ends meet these days.
Clark and I already used up our vacation time. He used his up when we both found ourselves sick and then found ourselves without a vehicle the day we were supposed to return to work. I used mine the week before Love Sick came out and Clark and I found ourselves to both be home sick all week. My final vacation day was used to stay home and put my everything into launching Love Sick.
Love Sick came out on April 25th. On April 28th, I was loaned out to another department. By the time I’d finished work that day, my lungs burned and I was coughing a lot. I honestly thought it was just an allergic reaction to the oil they put on the parts over there as the tip of my nose had been swollen and red from the oil that had gotten there as I repeatedly slid my safety glasses back up my nose. I decided to keep an eye on it over the weekend as I was still taking antibiotics.
Monday, May 1st, rolled around, and I was still coughing and sneezing some. I had a tickle in my lungs that was driving me a bit mad. I finished my antibiotics that morning. That night, my daughter [17] started coughing.
By Tuesday, she certainly sounded worse than me, so I must have given it to her and was now in recovery. I worked a full week. All week, my cough was minor, but my lungs felt like they were on fire. My nose was runny, and I had drainage problems. My daughter’s cough continued to worsen.
We waited through the weekend, watching as our poor daughter showed little improvement. Every time she tried to help around the house, her fingernail beds turned blue. We monitored her closely. By Sunday, Clark was coughing and feeling poorly, too.
I woke up feeling dizzy on Monday, my daughter was still coughing and hoarse, and Clark’s cough had grown more severe. We called into work and made doctor’s appointments for the three of us. They could see us all together in the afternoon. I had a hard time staying awake and slept the day away.
At the doctor’s it was discovered that my blood pressure was very low. My daughter and I both had a blood oxygen level of 96. After a thorough examination, it was determined that, though our symptoms were different, my daughter and I were at the same place in our infection and had been suffering from pneumonia for more than a week. We had since passed it along to Clark, and the doctor caught his in the early stages.
The three of us are on a round of antibiotics and steroids. Clark and I are cleared to return to work tomorrow. My lungs still burn, and I’m feeling dizzy still. Yet, we can’t afford to miss more work, so we’ll return no matter how we feel.
Want to help offset the cost of being sick?
Buy yourself a copy of my new book, Love Sick: Stories. A multi-genre collection of stories about the love we find ourselves caught up in.
Find more books on my books page.
ShldBWriting 