Being Sick

"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more--that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut--my eyes are blue--
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke--
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is. . .Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

-Shel Silverstein

Yes, I have a horrible cold that will not seem to go away! I've had it for a little more than a week now, and the coughs and runny noses are getting worse. When I breathe in deeply I instantly start to cough because of all the phlegm in my lungs.  In fact, when my sister came to town for her job interview, she and I had a sleepover in the king bed in the guest room, and I coughed almost all night. Finally, Meredith got out of bed at 5 AM and went to sleep in my bedroom for the rest of the night. Soon I left the room with Cooper and ended up falling asleep on the family room couch. It was a rough night.

Last night was just as horrible. It was midnight when I went to bed; I was extremely tired, but I guess watching Intervention all day got to me. I had nightmares, and when I woke up I went into the guest room (which is now her room since she has a job here) to have another sleepover with her. 

"What are you doing here?" she asked when I walked into the room. Somehow she had been awake.

"I can't sleep. I had a nightmare," I replied. This is usually my excuse for climbing into someone else's bed, but this time it was true.

Without any hesitation, Meredith let me onto the other half of the wide bed. Whenever a cough suddenly came out, I would hold it in so hard that my face would turn red. Does that kill brain cells or something? Anyway, I finally fell asleep for a few hours until the coughing started again, this time worse. I would accidentally cough into Meredith's face, when I held it in a little peep came out loud enough to wake my innocent sister up. She got really frustrated after about ten minutes of this, but she didn't say anything. Finally I left the room, and now here I am! I actually don't feel that tired, but my coughing is just out of control, and yet my throat isn't even sore. It's just because of all the stuff in my lungs that is sort of clogging up my breathing pipes. I hate sickness!

My mom and I bought some cough drops the other day, and when I put it in my mouth to suck on it, I literally almost barfed. It was a Mixed Berry flavor, and it tasted really gross. I spit it out, and I haven't had another one since. I'll need to get medicine at some point, but for now I'm not really treating my cough much. I also haven't been getting very much rest and, since it's summer, I haven't been eating as many healthy foods as I could. Being a really picky eater, I refuse to eat fruit--applesauce and Trix yogurt is how I get my fruits in. I also only like two vegetables: corn and carrots, and I like the carrots cooked. Yes, that is how picky I am. Anyway, we've been invited to a lot of barbecues lately, so we've been eating a ton of meat. I'm a carnivore at heart. :)

Tonight is one of my two basketball games this week, so hopefully I'll sleep better because I'll be pooped from the game and my mind will hopefully be off of Intervention. Gosh, that show is creepy. It was a marathon yesterday so Meredith and I were sitting on the couch all day watching. I think we'll need an intervention for watching Intervention too much. We're Intervention addicts! They're only on Mondays, though, so thank goodness for that.

Well, lovely people, wish me luck to get well soon; I'll need it. Hope you had an awesome 4th of July, too.

♥ Abigail ♥