BAM

Just when I'm getting a hold on things...

I go and get sick.

I managed to make it through a meeting with one of our Vice President's this morning, but was smart enough to cancel all my other meetings for the day. I can hardly stand it. I'm more frustrated about the repeating nature of my stress-induced throat issues than I am about actually being sick. What is it with me getting a sore throat, having sinus pressure overload, and losing my voice every time the stress level gets anywhere close to higher than normal?

In the last couple of years, I can remember this same thing happening at the following times:

• when I was preparing my Senior Writing Portfolio before graduating from high school
• graduating from high school (and going on vacation, bummer)
• right before my interview for an assistantship at Vandy
• when I graduated from Belmont
• the week before our wedding
• when I was getting ready to graduate from Vandy
• right after I finished the interview process for my job
• during Spring Orientation (which, mind you, was only two and a half weeks ago)
• and now, just after I finish the first stage of my budget proposal process

What's the deal?

I'm Better Now

And more educated about Belmont than I ever had been before!

The correlation? None. It's just that I was able to make it to my New Staff Orientation today because I woke up this morning feeling absolutely 100%. Heck, I even got Cliff out of bed for us to go kick some bootay at the gym. (Which is also where I learned that "that guy" obviously didn't get my letter. How dare he.)

And I will not fault my choice of eating establishments. Heck, I don't even know where I got the first bout from (my choice of making my excellent homemade chili wasn't it because I was the ONLY ONE who got sick... though I haven't eaten chili since) and who knows what the deal was with RuSan's. I can safely say that it will be awhile before I go for sushi again... at least the lunch buffet at Ru's. Man.

So now, on to the being educated about Belmont thing. I spent the whole first half of my day in an orientation for new staff members going through the ropes of how a great deal of this organization works. From communications to campus security, voicemail and staff giving, we got the lowdown and it was really a unique experience for me. One in that not a whole lot was surprising but I felt kind of like I was re-learning a place from a whole new perspective and that's just cool. The five of us sat around with a representative from HR for lunch and talked about the biggest hangups or challenges we face in coming from where we were to now being at Belmont. The perplexity of my situation is that two years at Vanderbilt only counts for a little bit of "somewhere else" and that my biggest challenge is in coming back. Back here in this office. Back in a whole new capacity. One I am still transitioning in, obviously.

Speaking of, I've spent the whole afternoon trying to figure out my communications strategy for while I'm out of the office for the next week. Because I'm the lucky-duck with pre-semester programming that warrants lots of questions from our parental and new student constituencies. But oh well, at least it's a vacation. YES, VACATION. WOOHOO, FREAKIN' HOO! I'll tell you what I've missed most these last couple of weeks was the luxury of getting off for a good month around this time of year. But I'll tell you what, a whole week after the last two months is pretty exciting!

We've got a LOT to do in the next thirty-six hours before heading out for Mom's early Sunday morning. Not the least of which is helping at graduation tonight, finishing our Christmas shopping and present wrapping, doing laundry, packing, cleaning my car, getting the oil changed, gassing up (the car, of course), oh and hitting the (CHRISTMAS) PARTY OF THE YEAR! I can only hope/believe/have faith that it will be as wonderful an experience as last year and I look forward to seeing all of Lampo and Co. donned in their festive apparel for the big event.

Now off to start working on those to-dos!

Being Made To Go Home

Sick day or no sick day, I'm going home.
That's what happens when the people you work for care for you.
I'm so thankful for that.

Food Poisoning (Again)

In an unexpected turn of events, my lunch with Molly yesterday sent me home early with overwhelming waves of nausea and stomach pains. I got home, turned on the Christmas tree, and fell asleep on our couch, only to wake up and spend far too much time in the bathroom. Unlike the bout I got about two months ago, this one graced the upper regions of my body. And I'll leave it at that. I stood in the shower for about a half hour before throwing on my pajamas and getting back on the couch... which I didn't leave once except to get up and go to bed.

Poor Cliff. He was incredibly supportive and comforting, and he even went so far as to watch "Private Practice" with me!

Going to work because I haven't accrued a sick day yet. Which let me tell you... is not fun. I'd give just about anything to stay home today wrapped up in five blankets, nursing a big glass of Gatorade, and praying that the thought of food or the faint smell of it would no longer haunt me. But unfortunately, it does. Add to that my body being riddled with achiness and chills...

man this stuff isn't fun!

Guten Morgen

Well, Kristine's voice has officially left the building. If Zach and Jody or any of Cliff's co-workers thought I couldn't get any worse, then Casey and Sara are most definitely getting a blend of Sophia Bush with laryngitis and an aged mobster, later this afternoon when we have our FOURTH ANNUAL Thanksgiving dinner. On this, the day of my daughter's wedding. "Family Guy", anyone?

And while Cliff has just left home for Sunday School, I'm soaking up some tea and honey, putting a hot compress on my airways every five minutes, and wondering if I should have taken mom's advice the other day about the Vick's Vapor Rub in the socks trick. It's just I started to get better... and then wham, surprise attack on my lungs/voicebox/etc. I'm really bumming about missing church, because the pre-Thanksgiving service has always been my favorite. Good thing I can watch it on the internet, later tonight.

It's nice being cared for, though. This is the spread Cliff had prepared for me when I got out of my hour long steam therapy in the shower:

Auf Wiedersehen, Goodnight

We (namely me) are sufficiently stuffed with cake and Hors d'Oeuvres.
My images from the wedding are uploaded (and one, blogged).
Cliff was an amazing husband who got his hair cut and cleaned the apartment in my absence.
Lots of laughs were shared with Cliff's co-workers over punch and delectable mashed potatoes.

And while it has been a wonderful day for these reasons and others, I am finally caving in to my progressive sickliness and hitting the hay. I have nothing resembling anything close to a voice, and I hate that. As if the discomfort of sinus issues wasn't enough, I've gone and lost my ability to speak without making myself and everyone around me cringe. It's possibly one of the most debilitating things, and the few times it's ever happened have been really, really frustrating.

But I'm trying not to let it get to me, and I think I've been a pretty good sport. Sometimes, though, I think it's okay to throw in the towel for the night and rest in the comfort of your husband's arms, the lull of a good football game, and a nice shot of Tylenol Sore Throat.

Hope you've all had a great Saturday!

In Retrospect...

It appears this guy:

left his touch of creepy evil-ness on me.

Okay, not really. But the last few days have been awful for me.

Saturday was a great day indeed. Farmer's Market. Pumpkinfest with friends. Kids (and dogs and adults) in great costumes. Homemade chili, "Ghostbusters", great conversation and fellowship. I mean, how can you go wrong?

Well, I'll spare you the details but from about 10PM on Saturday, everything (well, most everything) went very wrong for me. I got sick in what I realize is not the worst way possible, especially considering the large-scale chronic diseases and conditions that are out there. But if you've ever had food poisoning... well, you know what I'm talking about. It's painful and kind of scary because it just comes out of nowhere. One minute I thought it was a flare-up of a none-to-enjoyable condition and then it was a full-blown thing. Chills so strong my shivering was akin to convulsing, even under a pile of blankets. We still have no idea what I may have eaten/drank that caused it.

I have been stuck at home the last couple of days and have only stepped outside twice, once to venture to the grocery store for soup and once for more toilet paper. Grand, isn't it? I'll be making my re-entry into the real world - the one that doesn't involve watching episodes of television shows online and intermittently sleeping (oh, and getting up to go the bathroom every 30 minutes, gah) - today and I'm excited and nervous. I'm not at 100%, yet, that's for sure.

But 75% isn't so bad, though. At least that's passing.

No Words

Little Did We Know

I went and got sick soon after I posted on Thursday. It started with a sudden bout of allergies and has turned into some crazy sinus infection-like mess. It's a good thing I haven't really had much work at Belmont, because I spent most of yesterday cooped up in the house leaving a trail of crumpled moist Kleenex in my wake.

I have never had allergies, but have certainly been experiencing the symptoms over the last two days. Guess those few days of driving down the interstate with the windows down and no rain finally did me in. That and an immune system down from last weekend's activities.

Getting sick drains me, completely. Cliff's a good care-taker, though, and managed to keep me happy on our car ride down to Cleveland for the weekend. We decided we couldn't go another year or so without seeing Aaron at least one last time so he and MaryAnn are here with us at Cliff's parents hanging out for the day.

Hopefully I can muster up some energy and enough Kleenex to make it through. Wish me luck.

Just a quick request.

My dear friend Kim and her husband Jamie, along with her family are dealing with her father's sickness in a very real and immediate way right now. She has been so strong through all of this, as it has been eight years since her father's prognosis and seven and half years since he should have passed away according to the doctors. Please, if you're the type, lift her and her family up in prayer. They could really use it right now. Read more on their story here.

A Coffeehouse Update

Stephanie, it's bellydancing, but beginner's Irish was close!

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, I'm sipping the last few drops of coffee here at the ol' Beanery, realizing how much I always love the bottom of a coffee cup, because now matter how hard you try at the beginning to get the sugar to fully dissolve so you taste it at the beginning, the last few drops are just the sweetest.

Because we don't have internet at home, and I took the day off to tend to my sick husband, I decided to get some work done while Cliff was napping. We had a great weekend in Maryland and DC, but unfortunately, Cliff came down with something that we found out today is influenza. You know, the flu. For someone who never gets sick, this is a really big deal and he is down and out for the count - I just couldn't leave him, and it's a good thing because he can hardly get out of the sleeper sofa by himself. Thus, my coffee break has been short, but needed considering I had 64 e-mails in my inbox this morning, most of which pertained to work at Belmont.

But about the weekend - it was so very quick, but really quite an honor for me to make it to an occasion celebrating my grandpa like that. I mean, when he got the Patrick C. Healy award and flew us all in to Chicago for the ceremony, that was a pretty big deal, but this was just so very special. A lot of his former track runners was there, and it was so evident the impression he had left on those students and athletes. As a hopeful college administrator who never realized that's technically what her grandfather did, it was inspiring. Pretty incredible too, to have his wife, three of his siblings and their spouses, a sister-in-law, a niece and a nephew, his six children and their spouses, and all of his thirteen of his fourteen grandchildren plus one spouse and one future spouse there. I'd say we were the biggest "party" there (though, we usually are, haha).

Ah, well, guess it's time to head back to see my patient. Pray for a quick recovery and strength - it's just so hard to see him sick like this.

Happy Monday!