I have not written for a week and a half because I was sick. Oh, but so sick! It all started the night of Friday, February 6th, when my cousin was in town and we all went out to Foreign Cinema for dinner. The entire meal I was hot and cold at the same time, and couldn't hear anyone talking because the throbbing sound in my head was so loud. I think I drank an entire decanter by myself...and that was just before the salads came. Oh, my throat hurt so much.
The next morning, feverish and unslept but delighted with the fact that I finally HAD health insurance after three months without any, I called the Kaiser appointment line to request a visit to the Weekend Clinic only to be told there were no times available that day. I begged the representative to let me come in and was eventually transferred to an advice nurse on the unit who told me no one could actually see me but that if I came between 10:30 and 4:30 someone would swab my throat to test for strep. Awesome.
So, at 2 p.m. on a sunny Saturday I found myself where everyone wants to be at that time: sitting on a paper-covered exam table, a nurse coming at my fiery throat with that LOONG Q-Tip. Yowch. As she was packaging it for me to take to the lab, she said, "You know, I don't think you have strep. Adults come in all the time with sore throats, and they think they have strep, but really just they have a runny nose and it's irritating their throat or something like that. I think you should probably just take some ibuprofen and drink some tea, and the lab will call you tomorrow, but probably it's just a virus."
"Well," I said, "I know most adults don't actually have strep when they think they do, but I'm an elementary school teacher."
"OH!" she replied, "Why didn't you say that in the first place?! Here, let me write you a prescription for penicillin and you can just get it filled at the pharmacy on your way out. That way when the lab calls you with the positive report tomorrow you can just start taking it then. And I'll write you a work note, because you won't be able to go to school for two days at least. Teachers are the sickest people I know. I have no idea how you do it."
Um, yeah. Neither do we.
So that is the reason for the radio silence: lots of fever, many boxes of tissues, endless popsicles. Thanks to all my friends for deliveries of flowers and soup and new toothbrushes for once the contagious period ended and I had to throw my old ones away. Turns out two of my officemates had the same raging infection the same time I did. We are all back now but this type of illness, streptococcus group A, can linger in the system for up to 21 days so our little workroom is full of tissues with lotion to ease our sore noses, gallons of Purell to sanitize our hands, and boxes of baby wipes to sponge off every hard flat surface we touch.
But fear not, the stories have been saved up in draft form and the publishing will begin anew soon. You will read about the swift and dramatic end that came to the kung-fu fighting, as well as an unwelcome visitor in the lunchroom and the very surprising chance I had to go swimming at school. Oh, and a fire drill thrown in for good measure plus maybe even a story or two from life outside of school too. Just let me have one last popsicle, and I'll get write (ha!) down to it.
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