2:49 p.m. - July 25, 2004
Little kids are Germ Bags
Little Kids Are Germ Bags. This is what one of my supervisors has always said. So last Monday, I saw some little kid whose sister was a leaky bag of phlegm and tears and a runny nose...and I stayed away from her. I washed my hands after they left, and apparently, it didn't work. On Wednesday I woke up with a slight sore throat, but it was okay, so I went off to do work for my assistantship and to do work that afternoon for clinic. Sooo....I was fine....then halfway through my clinic session, I started feeling worse. The sore throat got persistent and I just got colder and colder (and I wasn't sure if it was due to the A/C or to my own self). I lasted the rest of the session and went home as soon as I could.

'Course, it was the hottest day of the year and I drove home with the heat on, feeling miserable.

Got home, and I shivered into warm pajamas and crawled under two blankets. Slept. Felt miserable. I was running a temperature of 38.5 C.

Next day, I was feeling better; just a bit sore throated, but not bad at all. And no temperature. So I could move around and do a little homework. Stuff like that. Friday, I went to school. I had to give a presentation and was stuffy the whole time. And very spaced-out.

Saturday was my friend's birthday celebration, and when I awoke, I felt like 95% better (the 5% being my nose being a bit stuffy and runny. Other than that, i felt all right). So I went.

Well, we went to a Rennaisance Faire and we started doing stuff at like, noonish and by the time it was 3:30, I started feeling sort of worn out and not super. The sore throat started coming back, and this time with a cough. But still I trekked on. By the time it was 5, I would have liked to just lie down. By six, I would have probably bought one of those expensive capes or jackets on sale, if it weren't for the cost. At 7, we were all leaving (I drove up with 2 other friends) and gave one a hug, at which point she said, "I think you have a fever!"

So another person did the quick hand-test and was like, "yeah, i think so too." I tried to sleep on the way back and was feeling pretty miserable and sorry for myself. I didnt' stop by B's house on the way back (the plan was to pick up something at his house and go home), because he's a musician and I thought I should stay as far away from him as possible, so he has the capacity to play the french horn. Of course, all I could think about was how nice it would have been to have someone give me a nice warm hug, because I was just so miserable.

Got home, and slept.

This morning: no more fever, sore throat is gone. The stuffy nose is still there. In place of the sore throat is an earache. Of course being in the field that I'm in, I analyze the pain and how it feels when I swallow or blow my nose.

When I swallow, there's this shooting pain. If I blow my nose, it feels like I'm blowing up a balloon in my ear. It sounds gross, but that's what leads me to think that I have negative pressure in my ear and that my eardrum is probably really sucked in. If I could, I'd be looking at my own ear to see if I'm right.

I don't think I'm going to work tomorrow. I'm calling in sick. I deserve a break, and I deserve to make sure I'm more or less healthy and not over-doing things.

Lessons learned: If there's a little voice in the back of my head that says, "maybe you should stay home"--I need to stop ignoring that voice, because that happened to me several times (like on Friday and on Saturday).

Little kids are really germ bags. This has never happened to me before, despite the fact that I have worked with many children over the past years (since sophomore year of college).

I'm a bit annoyed with that mom for bringing in a leaky germ bag to her son's appointment. I really am. The kid should have either stayed home or stayed at the pediatrician's office and not tagged along to my area. But that's life.

Oh, gosh, I want pizza. That's random, but I really am hungry for a slice of pizza.

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