Recently I suffered through a bout
of illness for several days. Being ill
was beyond unpleasant, however
doing nothing for more than a few
days was even worse. Feeling as bad
as I did, I had NO energy to do little
more than sit and stare or sleep and
snore in a drug induced coma. In the
course of my daily life, my interests
are so varied that I have no problem
finding things to do. However when
ill, the lethargy of the healing process
numbs me into a state of inactivity.
The old adage aside, for four plus days
I was neither aggressively ravenous nor
absent of any desire to eat. Therefore
I had to motivate myself to monitor my
intake and ingest beyond liquids. I was
bored and therefore ready to eat all sorts
of naughty bits. Fortunately in an effort
to facilitate a reduction in my intake, my
beloved had already eliminated cookies,
chips, and other temptations from our
cupboards. Unable to leave the sofa or
bed, I couldn't pop across the street to
fuel my desires. I actually lost weight.
Even with over a thousand channels,
the majority of daytime television is
a vast wasteland of nothingness. The
oddest phenomena are back-to-back
showings of a series. One day I spent
the entire morning watching rehabbers
flip. That afternoon all I did was say
YES to the dress. In between I viewed
some obscure oldies that I would never
have seen in prime time. In a way none
of that mattered as all I seemed to do
was drift in/out of slumber not TV land.
Would you hand me the remote please?
As you know, I've given up one form of
liquid refreshment for Lent. As I lay ill
in bed, I couldn't help but think that my
sickness was due to lowered resistance.
After all, without a daily booze cleanse,
my blood wasn't as sanitized and those
nasty little germs could take over. As
I was now battling the flu, my key job
was to drink, drink, drink (water or juice
only please!) Happily I had no problem
hydrating. My only challenge was how
to drag myself across the apartment to
the bathroom. Can you say DEPENDS?
Inertia makes your mind race. One
of the hardest phenomena to combat
while ill is not to fixate on things you
suddenly discover. As I lay watching
TV, all I could see was the tarnished
silver cocktail shaker on the bar. That
along with the dust on top of the cable
box. In addition, I had to fight an odd
compulsion to reorganize drawers
and closets. As my mind was racing,
I had no energy to address said issues.
In the end I now have an elaborate list
ready to tackle post recovery!
While I had no energy to do anything,
what was more disturbing was that I
little to no interest in everything. Why
couldn't I focus? My attention span
was virtually non existent. As usual,
my computer was at my side. And yet
I rarely touched it. Surrounded by the
latest magazines, coffee table books,
and novels, I could not force myself
to read. Knowing I must fuel the blog
there was a need to create. Attempts
aside, nothing could motivate me to
write a single word. How sick is that?!
Fortunately Frank was here to take
care of me. Besides fluffing pillows
his vigilant and loving care was just
what the doctor ordered. His home
cooking more than comforted and
kept my strength up. One of the
best things about spending several
days at home was the pleasure of
spending them with Frank. Just his
company alone made me feel better.
One can't help but wonder how much
more wonderful our time would have
been if I hadn't been ill. Staycation!
