Celebrate One More Time

So it was determined that I indeed did have pneumonia. I'm not gonna lie - Wednesday and Thursday were pretty craptastic. Wednesday my lungs decided that they no longer wanted to be inside my body and were trying to exit via my throat through severe spastic episodes. But by then, I had been diagnosed and had the good ol' drugs - antibiotics and steroids. Yes! I slept like absolute shit that night and on Thursday morning, I woke up literally feeling like someone had used my mid-section and chest as their personal punching bag for apparently the last 800 days. It hurt to breathe, talk, move, walk, you name it. Coughing had me ready to die because of all the muscles it involuntarily moved. And apparently you can't cough without using your mid-section muscles. I tried. I spent the entire morning on the couch with a heating pad on various parts of my body which helped somewhat. I had also started all the drugs, which by 3:00 left me also feeling nauseous, without appetite, and thinking that my skull was going to split into two. The headache was far worse than even the muscle pain. I read all the drugs pamphlets (which said headaches were a possible side effect) and it also told me I couldn't take lots of my normal painkillers, such as Ibuprofen. So I lay in the fetal position, clutching my head so that it didn't in fact split into two pieces. I called the Dr by 4:30 - closed. Of course. So then I called the pharmacist. Besides taking my lovely drugs, I could also return to my lovely diet of liquid NyQuil. The problem with NyQuil is...you can't take it until bedtime (or shouldn't at least). So I called Padawan before he got home and asked him to pick me up some ice packs (shockingly, we didn't own any before Thursday). He brought those home and I used them repeatedly until 9:00, when I couldn't take it anymore and guzzled my NyQuil. Because God must have felt some sympathy for me, I slept through the whole night and woke up feeling remarkably better (not completely - I was back to my pre-Wednesday stage but that was much better!) I was feeling so much better that I decided to go to work (no kiddos that day, just meetings all day so I figured sitting in a chair all day wouldn't exert me too much).  I was still feeling decently enough that I released Padawan to a play date for a few hours. I didn't even bother taking NyQuil last night because I had been coughing so intermittently last night that I figured I would probably get a decent night's rest without over-dosing myself and I did! Until this morning.....when Padawan's alarm went off at 7:15 and the SECOND my eyelids opened, the skull-cracking headache was back. As was the disgustingly phlegmy cough. Awesome. So by 7:30, I had broken out the ice pack again. I laid there for a good 15 minutes but was then bored and figured it was gonna be a mighty long day if I was gonna have to hold an ice pack on my head all day. So I took the sash from my robe and tied that sucker right to my head. I now have a hands-free ice pack!

I'm slightly pissed that I'm feeling worse again because it's Saturday and I LOVE Saturdays because it's a "me" day. Padawan was going to have breakfast with his parents, then was gonna take a look at taxes, then he said he had to help his brother Billie. He apparently got his finger or hand caught yesterday on a conveyor belt, had to go to the ER, and it turns out he might need surgery to fix a tendon in his finger. He needs to pick up his truck from work because someone else drove him to the hospital. Their dad offered to help him but Billie flat-out refused because he doesn't want their parents knowing he smokes (apparently there's cigarettes in the car). Anyone who is within 5 feet of Billie or has ever been to his house KNOWS he smokes. Everything he has reeks of smoke. His parents already know he smokes but they don't say anything unless they see the physical proof, and then they lay into him. Whatever. It's all messed up. I wonder how long Billie will have to be out of work for this injury (and how he even got his hand caught in the first place).

Today is my wonderful Mom's birthday. I was kinda planning before to maybe go over the house, bring her a lovely cake or cupcakes I made and give her gift. Well all this week I've felt way too crappy to cook ANY food, let alone bake something creative and pretty. And I haven't even gotten her gift yet (bad daughter), although I do know what I want to get her. Even if I had all that ready though, I guess it's better if I wait until I'm better so 1) I don't infect everyone there and 2) I don't make myself worse by over-exerting myself.

I think because of what I heard about Billie yesterday, he made another dream appearance...

My mom was planning on throwing me a birthday party (ironic since today is HER birthday, not mine). She called Billie, who offered to host it at his house. In my dream, I had never been to Billie's house before so we went to go inspect it. When we entered, there was a petite Asian woman sitting on the couch. I introduced myself and said "Oh, you must be Julie" (apparently that was Billie's girlfriend's name in my dream, even though that's not in her name in real life). She shook my hand and explained that she was not this "Julie" person but was in fact Billie's ex-wife (who he was also currently dating) and she had no idea who this "Julie" person was.  Non-Julie gave us a tour of Billie's house - which looked much like his real life house (last time I saw it) - very messy, dirty, bachelor-like. Then, we went down to the basement where there was a finished room. It was in warm  red tones, was nicely decorated, and even had a Christmas tree up. I remember I called Billie to tell him that I was so proud of him for having one decent room in his house. Then, non-Julie took us outside where we ran into Billie's dog, Woo. Except in the dream, he wasn't his normal black color - he was a mix of light brown/grey. At first we were both afraid of him in the dream because he looked mean but once we got up close, he was just as lovable as in real life. I remember my Mom concluding that this would be a fine place for the birthday party and that was it!

Alright, I'm gonna go lay down - for the 14th day in a row...and try to feel better!