Sick of Feeling Sick!

Note: Since I've posted this message, I've posted about Thanksgiving, so if you're reading this, be sure to scroll down and look!

I was all set to post about our great Thanksgiving weekend when malady mayhem descended on our home. It really started the night of Black Friday, when Ken started feeling pretty tired and rather under the weather. Saturday he was feeling a bit worse and by Sunday we were all feeling crappy, including the kids, so we stayed home from church. Since then, Ken and I have alternated being sick to varying degrees with no signs of permanent relief in sight. The kids had a few symptoms: some crabbiness, some draining of the sinuses, some coughing--but really so slight that if it hadn't been for Ken and I being sick, I may not have paid much attention. Keitra's symptoms could have easily been attributed to teething.


For the most part, Ken's symptoms have been sinus/respiratory. He got a really bad sore throat for several days, sinus pressure and drainage, a nasty cough, brutal headaches. For awhile he had fever-like symptoms--achyness, fatigue, chills and sweats--and occasionally nausea. The nausea may have been the unhappy result of so much of his head draining into his stomach all night. It was the worst in the morning and would usually abate with eating.

My symptoms were the weirdest of all. I hardly ever get stay-in-bed sick, but even when I do, it's only a matter of a day or so before I'm up and around again. I don't mean to complain because I know a healthy immune system is a great blessing, but this last week and a half really threw me. It was incredibly frustrating and unnerving to be down so much for so long! Day after day I lay on the couch, getting up occasionally to change diapers and scrounge up something for us to eat. When I maintained an upright position for any substantial length of time there was this pressure in my head that made it hard to focus my eyes, hard to clear my thoughts, hard to balance and walk straight. For several days my head ached behind my eyes and the muscles around them were increasingly tender. Like a sinus infection, except my nasal passages were completely clear. My ears popped and ached, but my throat was never more sore than a tickle; my muscles were weak and achy, my body shivered and sweat and my skin was often clammy, yet I wasn't running a temperature. What the heck?!? What was wrong with me and why wasn't it going away? How easy it is to take for granted the body's amazing ability to fight off infection and heal itself!


Monday I finally got a hold of some herbs that I'd run out of and launched into a serious regimen of self-treatment. By Tuesday afternoon I was up and around and thinking, why didn't I do this sooner? I guess I'm just used to my body healing itself...better keep giving it extra help until all the symptoms are completely gone. Today I'm only suffering from a few echoes of the misery I was in, and I'm so grateful to be able to function again! I feel so much better! We can finally go get our Christmas tree and put up decorations!