I Woke Up Sick

Well, in true Bekki fashion, I thought I was hung over. I never think I’m sick. I woke up with Swine Flu last year and still got on the subway from Queens to get to work before telling my head teacher, “I don’t feel so good.” After feeling my head and stomach ache, I cursed myself for losing my tolerance in Beijing, considering I’d only had two martinis (and some red wine.)

In the morning I was well enough to play a round of rummy while watching FRIENDS. (Some things never change, even overseas) I felt too full to eat.
Slowly, I began to lose my stamina. It was Saturday, the first day I had to NOT write reports in the month of November. I’d planned to go to the Lama Temple, and give myself a much-needed energy boost. It was clear by noon that I wasn’t going anywhere.

Still not admitting that I was sick, I consented to a nap at 2. I woke up at 4:30. At that point, I had to admit that I might be sick. (Especially considering that the last nap I took was when I had Swine Flu.) I should have known right away, because my kids have all been sick. I had at least 4 kids out every day of the week. I’m just lucky that I made it until Saturday.

After my 4 pm nap I was in trouble. I had a lot of hours left in the day, and absolutely no energy. Of course, I refused to go to bed. It was Saturday! My day! My first day after so many days writing reports day and night until I fell asleep, and I refused to be sick.

Kelly tried to feed me some soup. It was so hard to get every sip down, because I felt so full. I kept blaming my dinner from the previous night, even 24 hours later. I made Kelly put on a movie, the Corpse Bride, and tried my best to watch it. I felt burning hot. We have no thermometer, but I’m sure that I had the fever that my kids had.

The whole night, I couldn’t keep my eyes open for more than a few moments, every 30 min. or so. It was a strange fight with myself.

By 10 at night, I consented to be put to bed. Luckily, Sunday morning I felt somewhat more alive. I was able to lift my head and even have a whole conversation! I finished the last drafts of my reports, and tried to mentally prepare myself for the week ahead (complete with the dreaded Parent Teacher Conferences, dun dun dun).

Scariest part of being sick: I realized it’d be really difficult to be sick enough to go to a hospital. I’d have to look one up in a guide or copy it down from the internet, and try to get a cab driver who can figure out how to get me there. Then there’d just be the small problem of communicating with the doctors….