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By Keith, July 29, 2010 4:42 am

For both of you who were expecting a Weekly Update Thingy last weekend, sorry to have disappointed you.  I was quite ill with tonsillitis.  Apparently it had been sneaking up on me the week before, causing my mild fever and general achiness.  But as of Wednesday morning, I am happy to report that I have kicked its ass.  Of course it whooped mine from last Friday morning through this Tuesday, but today, I AM THE WIN!

During the illness, I awoke several times to find I had soaked the sheets.  No, I hadn’t peed the bed!  My fever made me sweat more than I thought possible.  My t-shirt was soaked, sheets were soaked, underwear was soaked.  I felt disgusting, but it must have gotten the job done…eventually.

Night sweats were nothing compared to the swollen tonsils.  They were HUGE!  I’m talking monster tonsils that made my tongue hurt when I moved it too much.  They lymph node on the right side of my neck was also swollen.  It didn’t hurt, but it’s a little disconcerting to have a lump on the side of your neck.

In the beginning I took Advil to reduce my fever, headache, and the pain in my throat.  Then I tried Extra Strength Tylenol, and that stuff was far more effective.  So effective in fact that I was nearly falling asleep at work (after having slept 10-12 hours prior).  For sleeping, I took two Tylenol PM’s.  Those things dried out my lips and mouth too much, but got the job done.  I was able to sleep despite my swollen tonsils causing me to snore even when awake.

As of 2:30am Thursday morning, I am not taking any medication for pain, or swelling.  I ate pizza for dinner today.  It did not taste quite right, but at least I could chew my baby bites and swallow them with very little pain.  The 3,000 ml of water I have drank tonight have gone down without any pain whatsoever.  I actually feel great, the best I’ve felt in 2 weeks.  I expect to be even better tomorrow, and back at 100%

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By Keith, July 17, 2010 10:01 am

PART II

When you’re a reasonable, scientific-minded geek like myself, the first thing you do after admitting you are sick is start looking for someone to blame for the illness reasons for why you became ill. My first thought was whether I had recently dropped something onto the floor and then eat it? No, that couldn’t be it. I always follow the 5 second rule of dropped food. I don’t remember anyone at work being sick in the last week, but any one of them could have been carrying the evil little germies into work. Or it is entirely possible that I let my immune system become too run down last week by working too many hours and sleeping too few.

Whatever the cause of my little fever, I was feeling too achy, too shivery, and too dizzy to go to work Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, I took some Advil for my throbbing headache. It worked great, but along with relieving my headache it was also very effective at reducing my fever. This was NOT a smart thing to do, and it probably prolonged my illness by giving the infection time to regroup, flank my defenses, and assailed my already weakened defenses once more. It was an unintentionally stupid thing to do.

Although I felt much better early on Tuesday night, it was too soon to celebrate. The Advil had dropped my temperature down the mid 97′s. Without it, my temperature jumped back up to the low 100′s. Not a serious fever, but something to keep an eye on. Once I realized I had a low-grade fever I stopped taking Advil and started sweating it out like a good patient.

Being a good patient entailed drinking thousands and thousands of millimeter of water, and suffering through the sweats, chills, and aches until the fever broke. Tuesday and Wednesday were a blur. If I wasn’t sleeping, I was drinking, sweating, and peeing (sorry to be graphic!). At some point while I was sleeping Wednesday afternoon, my fever gave way. I know this, because I woke up covered in sweat and actually felt too warm for the first time since Sunday night.

I wore two t-shirts, a long sleeve shirt, jeans, thick socks, and my fleece jacket at work. I even took my gray NPR ski cap with me (just in case). Fortunately, I was warm enough through the night despite the office temperature being set at a frigid 70 degrees. My fever did not return, so I concluded that my immune system had done its job and won the war.

The lessons to be learned from this experience are these: Do not eat things that have fallen on the floor; get more sleep force yourself if you have to; avoid sharing closed spaces with other human beings if possible; a thermometer is a handy thing to own; and if you have a fever, do not take medicine that will reduce your temperature and prolong your illness.

Today I am feeling better. I must be okay, because I mowed the lawn this morning. Thanks for asking.

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By Keith, July 15, 2010 8:39 pm

PART I

Every once in a great while even someone as healthy as I am can catch something that makes me miss work.  Unfortunately, that time is now.  Well, not exactly “now” as I am feeling much better this evening after having slept (in sweat) for the past 8 hours.

Beginning Monday morning at work, I noticed feeling abnormally cold.  I almost always feel cold in the air conditioned QA lab, but on Monday morning, my hands were like icy claws clattering on the keyboard, careful not to strike the keys too hard for fear of shattering a fingertip.  My lower back and shoulders were feeling a little achy as well, reminiscent of having influenza but without the pesky nauseous-vommitty feeling that always rides along with it.  I felt so ill that I told Jim (1st shift QA team leader) that I might not be into work Monday night because of how I was feeling.  Both he and Samantha agreed that I looked like shit (at least I think they were joking!), and Jim thanked me for letting him know.

After work, I walked over to a friend’s house to return her pink IBM Thinkpad.  I had warned her via email that I wasn’t feeling very well.  She met me at her front door and did her best to hold back her overly friendly beagle.  When I saw that she had dyed her hair blond, I suddenly felt worse for her than for myself.  The walk in the morning sunlight felt very good.  I remember thinking that I need to take more walks after work in the fresh air.

A mile-wide stubborn streak runs through me.  I don’t often feel ill enough to miss work so I do not often use sick days.  I went to work Monday night, not because I was feeling better, but because I was not feeling worse than I was Monday morning.  That is often how I decide how sick I am, not by how bad I feel, but by whether or not I feel worse than I did the day before and the likelihood of my condition worsening as a direct result of ignoring it.  On Monday night, I felt no worse than I did Monday morning, so I went to work.

By Tuesday morning, I was shivering at my desk once again and feeling as though a gang of 4 year olds had been kicking me in the back and shoulder blades all night.  I blame the incessant air conditioner in the QA office for my fever.  Whatever small-time amateur virus I had could easily have been subdued under normal summertime conditions of 80° coziness, but I was stuck in a freaking meat locker for 8 hours.

When I left work, I honestly believed there was a good chance I would be returning Tuesday night.  My immune system does not often let me down, so it was reasonable to think my body would knock the stuffing out of this stupid little infection.  Instead, the stupid little infection kicked my ass.

Stay tuned for PART II