Misery and Woe

Disclaimer: I apologize for the delay in this post. The chaos of life has interrupted my flow of focus. Anywho, here goes! 

Well, it’s happened at last. That dreaded thing that everyone tries to avoid by washing their hands and knocking on wood. And no matter how many times I tried to knock on wood - believe me it was a lot - it happened. I got sick. I must say, being sick in college is a whole new experience. In college, there really isn’t anyone who takes care of you and brings you soup when you need it. Nor is there someone who can be summoned with a simple cough to make sure you have everything you need. 

I came down with the flu on the last day of my fall break. The irony was just glaring me in the eye. How is it that I got really sick after an entire weekend of R&R? Well no matter how many times I asked myself that, it happened. I began to feel a tickle in my throat so I went to the nearest Duane Reade to buy everything I could to stop illness. I got Emergen-C, Airborne, DayQuil, NyQuil, Throat Coat tea, extra water. I even tried sleeping a little longer. At long last I realized that there just wasn’t anything I could do to stop nature from taking its course. I merely had to accept the fact that I contracted influenza somewhere in New York City, and it just wouldn’t let up. I came to terms with the fact that difficulty with swallowing and a runny nose meant that I was taken ill and I put my pajamas on and got in bed. I tried going to class on Wednesday morning to get the information necessary for my upcoming midterm. I do not remember ever being as miserable in one class period. I couldn’t swallow anything, it was difficult to breathe, my eyes were continually drooping, and my nose was running. Rather than give in I chose to grin and bear it. I would simply have to get through this one class, then I could head back to my dorm room and take a nice, much-needed nap. After class was over I stumbled out of the lecture hall and headed to Au Bon Pain for a cup of soup and slowly made my way back to my room. 

As I was slurping my soup and making myself more hot tea I got on my computer to seek advice from any internet source for the quickest ways to relieve myself of this horrible virus. WebMD, as always, was absolutely no help. They tried to tell me that I had a combination of the flu, strep throat, a cold, and mono. I decided to get off that site before it told me I was going to sprout warts all over my body. The NYU student health website was much more reassuring. All of my symptoms were listed under the flu. I then proceeded to find advice on how to get better. I had thought about going into the center and getting antibiotics, but the very first item listed on the ways to recover was, “Stay in bed for 24 hours.” I felt a lump in my throat as I tried desperately to swallow my chicken noodle soup. I had already skipped the first step to recovery. I then vowed to stay in bed for 24 hours. If the health clinic was telling me I needed to stay home and not go to class, then that I was exactly what I would do. 

In that 24 hours I managed to catch up on all the TV shows I had missed in the weeks before my illness, sleep a lot, and do a little bit of personal reflection. As I slowly made my way to recovery I came to realize a few things. 

1. I should really avoid other people who are sick. 

2. Being sick is really a great time to catch up on missed TV. And to discover new TV shows on Netflix. 

3. The NyQuil and DayQuil pills are giant. How do they expect people who are sick and can barely swallow to be able to swallow those giant horse pills? 

4. Being sick is actually very expensive. I must have spent about $100 on tissues, medicine, and cough drops. 

5. It is simply not in my best interest (or my wallet’s) to get sick again. I’ve really got to work on this whole “preventative” thing.