Rock me like a hurricane

So today is the first of December...welcome to it. Why is that important? Well, for this post it is because I've been sick since November 12th. I don't care who you are, unless you're terminally ill, but that is a long time for anyone to feel "under the weather." I remember it vividly, let's go back to that fateful night. It was Saturday night and I'd just gotten back from a "work-related" dinner. I just wanted to unwind a bit, so I started watching TV and suddenly felt a tickle in my throat. I thought to myself, "uh-oh, this is no good." I actually decided to get to sleep earlier than usual that night because I wanted to feel well-rested and certainly hoped that the feeling in my throat would pass. Fast-forward to Sunday morning and unfortunately the feeling in my throat had not gone away and it was in fact worse. So I began the proper full-frontal health assault by drinking as much Lemon water as possible (tons of vitamin C in that stuff), and by taking my strong American cold/flu pills. Days passed and needless to say the sickness was still with me. Now I had full-blown sinus congestion, complete with sinus headaches and when I had class on the Tuesday after this began, I had a fever (complete with sweating) and barely a voice. That last part is key because your voice is pretty much your most important tool in the classroom and I simply didn't have it (or the energy) to compete with the screamin' little ones that I had that day.

This sickness carried on throughout the week, taking on various other traits such as a runny nose and annoying, uncontrollable cough. Meanwhile, I was still trying my best to treat it. The next Saturday, the 19th, I had a team-teach day with my Australian buddy and when I got to his classroom, I blew my nose but my nostril wouldn't stop leaking. It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before and quite frankly I was a bit freaked out because it was like brown water dripping out of my nostril non-stop. Sorry, I know that's not a pretty picture. Eventually it stopped and naturally I was paranoid it would happen again. I finished up the day and the next few days the sickness remained. It lingered. The cough was at the point where I couldn't repress it and would have this incredibly long coughing fits on the train, which was a bit embarrassing if I'm being honest. I made it through yet another week and was getting a bit frustrated at the persistence of this sickness. I was coughing up phlegm like no tomorrow and it showed no times of slowing down.

Finally, enough was enough and on my day off this past Monday, I went to the doctor to get this mess taken care of. It was an interesting experience to be sure. They put a face mask on me right away, more so out of concern to the other patients in the waiting room and instead of letting me wait with the other people, they put me in this sort of "isolation area", that was closed off. My personal quarantine zone. They couldn't know what was wrong with me so they took no chances. Eventually they called my name and a female doctor saw me. Seeing the doctor is a bit different than in America. The room isn't so private as there are tons of nurses walking back and forth behind the doctor doing various things. The doctor spoke a bit of English, asked me some questions, listened to my lungs and then sent me up to the 2nd floor to get chest x-rays. On the 2nd floor, the guy taking x-rays greeted me and was kind enough to speak English with me to make sure the process went smoothly. After that, I went back down to check with the doctor and she said there was nothing to be concerned with. She said that working with kids everyday I can probably expect to get sick more often than I'm used to, which I understood. Then she prescribed me some drugs; an antibiotic, some other pill, and a cough syrup that tastes god-awful. It's about four days of medication and I'm going into the last day. Thankfully, it all seems to be working for me and I'm feeling on the up and up again. Long story short, I miss my Kombucha and when in doubt, don't be afraid to get your butt to a doctor...no matter what country you're in. I'll leave you with a pic of me in the hospital, my drugs, and some random stuff!

I'm a threat!

LTJ - Dope man