T-minus 6 hours

Six hours from now I'll be leaving work with the long winter break stretching out in front of me! I'm not overly excited about the holidays this year, but the break is sorely needed. I don't go back to work until January 6th.

I'm going to get as many of these as possible!

Silver linings

Thank you to everyone who commented on yesterday's post for your kindness. It was a terrible weekend. Yesterday once I got the diarrhea under control, I had terrible body aches for a few hours, then those subsided too. I was feeling a little better by last night, but even so, I decided not to take a chance on work today. I got in touch with my principal around 5:30 to let her know that I wouldn't be in today. I hate missing work (which is why I have around 50 unused sick days with more accruing every month) but when I've been really sick like this, I try not to feel guilty about it. 

This morning in the early wee hours before dawn I woke up drenched in sweat, twice. Then when I really woke up and got up around 7:30 I felt much, much better. Maybe I was sweating out the last of it. I sure hope so.

There's a bright side to all this, though. I lost 5 pounds! Haha!

But seriously, though, I've been actively trying to lose weight since May or June. I managed to lose 35 pounds by August, then couldn't seem to lose any more. Considering that I've had to take prednisone and antibiotics three or four times this year, a nurse recently told me that I've done really well to maintain the loss and not regain. I know she's right, but it's still frustrating to do all the right things week after week and the scale doesn't budge. Now thanks to this nasty little virus, I've finally hit the 40-pound loss mark! That feels like a win, finally. 

Maybe I'll even get lucky, and this virus will have served as a good purge and reset. It certainly felt like one!

Miserable

I left work early on Friday, having been suddenly taken down by nausea, an upset stomach, and body aches. I was so afraid that I'd caught the horrible stomach virus spreading through the school, and unfortunately that seems to be exactly what's happened. 

Since late last night I've had the worst diarrhea of my life. I didn't know it was possible to have diarrhea like this. I'll bet I've had to run to the bathroom at least 20 times (probably more) and I just can't seem to stop. Gregg went out first thing this morning and picked up Imodium AD and Gatorade for me. It's only been about 30 minutes since I took the medicine and I've had to go 3 times since then. God, I hope it works soon. I can't stand much more of this. Plus I'm exhausted and my bottom is raw and feels like it's on fire. (Sorry if that's tmi)

I tried so hard at work to avoid catching this. Lots of hand washing, isolating in my office, etc...but it still got me. 

I'm absolutely miserable. I suppose I can thank all those germy little kids for this. 

Little jerk

 

Here's a recent photo of the Marcoman doing one of his favorite things: raiding the pantry! This time, at least, I got there before he had a chance to do any damage. 

I'm sure he's already plotting his next attempt.

Finished....finally!

The repair/remodel of the room that started months ago is finally finished! Finished!! I can't tell you how good it feels to have everything done  and to finally be able to get our house back in order. The guy we hired to repair the wall and ceiling (after water damage from a leak) was slow to come and finish the last little bit of work. Gregg finally texted him last month and told him, "You have to come finish up. I may have cancer treatments starting in the near future" and to Rick's credit, he came over the very next morning and finished everything that day. He did a really good job for a great price, even if it did take him way too long to finish up.

Then we had to paint. That took almost a week of careful prep work before Gregg and I could even get started on the actual painting. The last people to paint the room did a really crappy job, and the last owners left lots of scuffed places and nail holes. We finally startaed putting on actual paint on Sunday, and yesterday, we finished. 

Such a great feeling, and we're really pleased with how the room (and the coffered ceiling) turned out!