Well, here I am, sick again. This winter has been horrendous.

Let's see: I came down with strep throat two days before New Year's eve, which sucked. Now I am fighting some kind of upper respiratory infection, with sinusitis (I suspect) along for the ride. I got a week's worth of Levaquin from my doctor yesterday and have been blowing some extremely nasty stuff out of my head ever since I started it last night.

However, this antibiotic is not without side effects, the most noticeable of which is insomnia. I took the first pill, along with 2 Aleve, last night around 8 p.m. I got into bed at 8:15, and had the lights out by 9 p.m. But I didn't fall asleep until well after 11 p.m. Then I kept waking up frequently, and it took seemingly forever to fall back asleep each time.

Finally, I awoke at 3:30 a.m. because my throat was so sore and sandpaper-dry. I was practically in tears from the pain. And Brian's snoring was working my last damn nerve. I slipped out of bed, headed down to the kitchen, and ate a few spoonfuls of applesauce, to coat my empty stomach a little bit. Then I took 2 extra-strength Tylenol, some Sudafed, and guaifenisin, which is an expectorant.

By this time, I was wide awake. I considered trying to stay awake until it was time to get ready for work, but knew that probably wasn't a good idea--I'd hit a major 3 p.m. slump if I tried it. So I got settled under a blanket on the sofa in our living room and turned on the TV. Wound up watching the Olympic men's figure skating event until close to 5 a.m. Finally, I felt tired enough to try to sleep again.

The next thing I knew, it was 6:45 and Brian was standing over me, tapping me and telling me to get up (note to potential future second husbands, i.e., Joaquin: NEVER tap me. Especially not on the head, and especially not when I'm sound asleep. You might end up with your ass in a sling.).

After a lovely, long, steaming hot shower (undoubtedly the best part of my day), I was putting in my contact lenses and the right lens ripped almost in half on my fingertip. Since I only had one pair of lenses, I had no choice but to wear my glasses. I HATE MY GLASSES.

Brian and I carpooled to work today, and on the ride, I discovered that I had lost my voice. Which didn't bother me much, since I can barely conduct any meaningful or enjoyable conversations before 10 a.m.

As I was working at my desk, I felt my nose begin to run. Annoyed, I grabbed a tissue and wiped it, and was horrified when I saw what appeared to be about a pint of bright red blood on the tissue. I never, ever get nosebleeds. Ever. But since this morning, I've had three episodes of profuse bleeding.

And finally, since the barometer is currently hovering just over 30 inches, I have a screaming sinus headache. More of a face-ache, really...it feels like someone in five-inch spiked heels is standing on my face, right over my cheekbones, and occasionally shifting to my browbones.

So, as you can see, I'm batting a thousand today.

I'm so pissed. Another weekend down the drain. I had a lot of stuff on the roster, too. Bummer.

Hope your Friday's better than mine.

Labels: bad news, bitching, health, stress