Drippy, Sneezy, Cough-y

As someone who "never gets sick", these symptoms have been rather annoying. I think the "drippiness" started last week, if not even earlier. I actually nearly "tweeted" one day that I was trying to convince myself that an occasionally drippy nose was MUCH less annoying than a full-blown cold. While I did NOT actually "tweet" that, I do actually still believe that to be true...even though the "drippiness" is a bit more frequent now and also accompanied by sneezing and coughing. By early afternoon at work yesterday, my head was starting to hurt and I was overcome with fatigue. The end of my twelve+ hours couldn't come soon enough (I did have nice patients which was a blessing for sure and did get out pretty much on time.) I quickly made some macaroni and cheese and watched my DVR of Medium as my head continued to throb. I was in bed by 10:00 and slept like a rock (well, until I finally had to get up at a little after 6:00 for work today).

Today I was also met with afternoon fatigue, but I think that was more job-related than anything. I set-out to cure my fatigue with a walk to the hospital store for some Diet Coke, Hot Tamales, and Sun Chips. I brought a cute little patient with me on my walk. He just came last week and it makes me smile because his face seems to light up when I talk to him (he's 11 and it's just super cute!) I also visited another patient who had made a thank you note for "Nurse Amanda" using the gel pens and stickers I gave her for her birthday (apparently, when she was getting moved from the ICU to the floor, her mom was telling her the good things about getting a new room, and she chimed in that "Nurse Amanda" is there...SO sweet!) It's also nice that when I was leaving yesterday and responded "yes" to a patient's mom's question if I worked again today and she said "yay!" Hmm, sounds like I had a good day DESPITE the dripping, sneezing, and coughing!

After work, I went to dinner with one of my co-workers. Her husband was out-of-town and she didn't know what she was going to do. I, of course, had nothing to do either. I said "let's go to a movie", but by 8:00, it would have had to be a LATE movie which would have been tough after a 12-hour shift, plus she works tomorrow. We went to dinner instead and ended up visiting until after 10:00. I "forced" her to work with me on Wednesday and today...she did put on my facebook once that she "hearts" working with me...so, there you go ;o)

Tomorrow, I think I am going to go to a movie with a friend and am making plans for coffee with another friend and lunch with yet ANOTHER friend. Monday I am having lunch with my dad since he is off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Busy, busy!

Well, I better head to bed since sleep, fluids, and time are the only things I can think of to get rid of the drips, sneezes, and coughs.

And, even though my last post was about "fires" and candles, I have banned myself from lighting any real ones for a while after waking up yesterday morning to find a candle burning on my stove. I guess "horrified" is a pretty good word (oh, and grateful that nothing bad happened...the city has already seen more fires this week than have been seen in quite some time and I do NOT need to add to that statistic!)

Ever since I found this blog the other night after hearing about the earthquake in Haiti, I have been reading the words of this nurse who is there. The orphanage/hospital where she is was not damaged, but it is heartbreaking to read her stories. But, this post has hopeful news and some happy news, including the fact that a number of children were able to be transported to their adoptive homes sooner that expected which will end up making room for children who are orphaned from the earthquake. I can't even imagine...

Good night.