I Be Illin'

What is it about colds? It seems like one person gets sick, then another, and before you know it, the thing has spread like....like...like some sort of virus.

Weeeeiiird.

It all started on St. Patrick's Day, or rather, at a St. Patrick's Day parade a week ago. As I was reminded on Monday by the number of people in green at my office, including one gentleman dressed as a Leprechaun, the actual holiday took place on March 17th. But a week ago Saturday, despite rain, wind and hail, I saw quite a lot of people wearing green, drinking green beer, and celebrating.

By some miracle, perhaps the luck of the Irish rubbing off on our Italian selves, my dad and I walked away from that gig without getting sick. At least I thought we did. On Friday, after a nap, my dad sounded horrible, and admitted to having a postnasal drip or irritated throat for a few days that turned into something worse. Over the course of the weekend, he went from sounding stuffy to huddling in a chair wrapped in a coat, complaining about how chilly it was in our 80 degree home. He became very irritable, his already bad hearing made worse by his illness. On more than one occasion we had to shout and repeat ourselves when he got upset and thought no one was answering him.

“You men are such babies when you get sick,” pointed out my mom. Over the years, I have observed women exhibit a higher threshold for pain. I knew one that returned to work four days after having her appendix out, and another who described a very painful case of TMJ, and never once betrayed any signs that she was in excruciating pain. Even my mom, when she was in the hospital with heart palpitations, behaved normally, even helping her neighbor with a curtain until nurses came running down the hall screaming at her to get back in bed because her telemetry readings were going crazy. Maybe it has something to do with that whole childbirth thing. Maybe it's because when a woman gets sick she still needs to be a mother, but when a man gets sick he needs to be mothered. Indeed, my dad did sound a bit like a little kid as my mom ran down a list of soup options from the pantry, and he sulked “I don't like that kind.” He wasn't himself.

On Monday afternoon, my car woes were nearly resolved. The man whose vehicle struck mine called to let me know he'd made an agreement with the body shop. I just needed to get my car there. I called my dad to see if he could drop it off, and the conversation went from him asking me to repeat nearly every sentence, to practically sobbing that he “had no pep” and couldn't give me an answer. I realized he was in no shape to leave the house, even for a five minute drive, so I called the body shop to find out how early they're open. Fortunately they open at 8 AM, so if all goes well I'll still get to work on time Tuesday and make an important meeting.

When I got home on Monday, my dad was a lot more lucid, and my mom explained that she finally got him to take some aspirin. He's had a rough couple of days, from chills to a sore throat to a bit of delirium, but he's getting better. One thing I noticed at work was how many people were sneezing and coughing. A few were out sick. And as the day went on, I started feeling a little off myself. It started with a tickle, not quite a sore throat, that I could clear with a cough. Soon I started to feel achy, and by the evening I felt as though I weren't thinking clearly, and started to feel a little chilled. I'm drinking a lot of fluids, took advantage of a nice day to walk on the beach at lunch, and I've double my normal Vitamin C dosage to 2000 MG. I know what's coming. My dad's been sick the last few days. People in my office are sick. I've not only been exposed to germs, I was in that same cold rain a week ago that likely weakened my father's immune system.

I can't stop what's coming. I'm not sure I'm even making sense now. All I can do is get some rest, drink fluids, take vitamins, and hope to lessen the impact. I've had a sneak preview, and I'm not looking forward to the next few days. These things are so....viral....