5 posts tagged “sick”
So this is why I'm sick again...
U.S. study shows why winter is "flu season"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Influenza viruses coat themselves in fatty material that hardens and protects them in colder temperatures -- a finding that could explain why winter is the flu season, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.
This butter-like coating melts in the respiratory tract, allowing the virus to infect cells, the team at the National Institutes of Health found.
"Like an M&M in your mouth, the protective covering melts when it enters the respiratory tract," said Joshua Zimmerberg of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), who led the study.
Experts have long pondered why flu and other respiratory viruses spread more in winter. No one explanation, such as people staying indoors more, or the destructive effect of the sun's radiation in summer, has fully explained it.
The new report, published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, could lead to new ways to prevent and treat flu, said NICHD Director Duane Alexander.
"The study results open new avenues of research for thwarting winter flu outbreaks," Alexander said in a statement.
"Now that we understand how the flu virus protects itself so that it can spread from person to person, we can work on ways to interfere with that protective mechanism."
lazily cross posted from crystalking.com
I wish that I could say it was a writing sickness of some sort, but no, it’s just plain sickness. Second time in less than a month, which makes me quite unhappy indeed. My husband finds my pitiful forlorn-ness rather cute but I’m just not good being miserable.
Being sick also forces me to do something else that I’m not terribly good at. Taking naps.
Ever since I was a little kid taking naps was something I hated. I was always afraid I was going to miss something. I would pretend to nap when I heard my mother coming up the stairs to check on me and as soon as she would leave I’d pull my book out from under my pillow and start reading. There wasn’t enough time for books, in my opinion.
I still feel that way. Being sick means that I have a hard time staying awake. Even sitting here blogging a bit has me starting to feel weak and womply. I imagine I’ll start and finish this over a long period…a bit here and there because sitting here is tough. I just have so little energy and barely any focus.
For the entire weekend I’ve spent the majority of my time on the couch, feverish, wracked with coughing, with my husband so graciously bringing me juice and ginger ale. He makes me food I can’t taste and runs to the store to buy me kleenex when I run out. This luckiness in finding the nicest guy is a two edged sword. I’d rather be spending the day doing something fun with him, not relegated to the couch, half asleep while he cooks me chicken soup.
I try to read but sadly, reading requires a bit more brainpower and energy than TV does. I rarely watch TV except for a few specifically Tivo’d shows and when I’m sick. Reading puts me to sleep nearly right away but I can manage TV for a little longer. Possibly because it’s actionable and movable and can arrest my visual senses in a way that black words on a white page tend to blur together for me when I feel like this.
So I watch TV and bad free movies on Comcast, feeling miserable, but even worse, feeling guilty.
Yeah. Guilty for being sick. Guilty because I had to cancel the
writing workshop that I was supposed to teach yesterday. Guilty because
I sleep instead of reading (oh my I have a book pile so high right now
that I’m dying to go through). Guilty because I watch TV instead of
writing on my novel (although I did manage to write a freelance article
this weekend…the editor will most likely cringe at my codeine cough
syrup coated words but I did spit it out over the course of yesterday).
And even though tomorrow isn’t here yet, I already feel guilty because
I’m going to have to call in sick (actually call in to say I’m working
from home) for the second time in less than a month (was out for a week
with the flu just three weeks ago).
This is where my husband lovingly tells me that I’m crazy. I wasn’t
even born Catholic! I shouldn’t feel guilty for not reading or writing
or working. I should just be sick and do my best to sleep it off.
But oh, that pillow…it doesn’t really call my name. Heaven forbid if
I miss something! Oh wait, some things, like the 98 minutes I spent
today watching The Covenant
are probably worth missing…
I know a little bit more. The surgery will probably happen on Monday. He hasn't had a heart attack but was having all sorts of pains in his arms from blockages--5 of them. The doctors say his heart is very strong but they need to get rid of the blockages or he probably will have a heart attack. He is angry because they are keeping him in the hospital and not letting him do anything. "I could be at home watching TV or working on the computer and doing the same activity," he grumps. But I'm glad they are keeping him there because he wouldn't just "do nothing" at home. He turned 64 just two weeks ago.
I marvel at my mom (who will probably read this at some point). She knows I'm a wreck, and so is my brother and sister, and she is appearing to be the pillar of strength at the moment, about how the doctors do this all the time now and it will be fine and don't worry about coming home, he'll be fine. I know her though, and she's not really the pillar of strength, but I'm glad she seems like it right now because I sure as hell know I'm not.
Thank you all so much for your well wishes and thoughts. It means a lot to me right now.
stomach flu/food poisoning = very very unhappy camper. :(
Our holiday party this weekend was fab!!! Lots of good friends came on over to share holiday cheer. Reesie and Frank even joined in the fun, but I'll be giving Raf grief for missing it.
Then Sunday night, I was still recovering from my hangover and a fall I took in my living room the day before where I had tripped over a misplaced pile of wood while carrying a glass picture frame. I figured that my aches and pains were from my wrenched back and arms from the fall (minor cuts were suffered, nothing big thank god). Went to sleep feeling like I had literally been hit by a truck. Never occurred to me that it wasn't the fall that was bothering me so severely. I didn't figure it out actually, until I woke up and realized that the sheets were absolutely soaked. I had had a fever and sweated it out!! I've never had that happen before. Had to get up and change the sheets in the middle of the night. (Is that TMI?) Was so absolutely bizarre and freakish and I felt fine the next day. Aches were gone and been ok since. Joe jokes that my body was getting rid of all the party toxins...booze and sugar.
And apparently a car at the gas station down the street blew up the on Sunday. Crazy crazy. The traffic was nutso in front of our normally quiet street as they were diverting people. I'll let Reese tell the story because well, she already
Oh, also picked up a shiny new smartphone. Yay Me!
And a Christmas meme, stolen from my friend and new Voxer Amber. Now it's your turn.
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Burdick's hot chocolate MMMMMMM.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
When we were kids he just set them out around the tree and in the living room. The three of us each had our own place with toys. Now since it's just Joe and I, he wraps them and puts them under the tree.
3. Colored lights or white on tree/house?
Multi-colored. Joe likes the colors to be a bit non-traditional so we have orange and funny chartreuse as well as pink and purple.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Yes, every year before our holiday party. But I never see anyone kissing under it. :(
5. When do you put your decorations up?
As soon as Joe will let me. He makes me wait till after Thanksgiving.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
The year we got the Atari!! My dad always loved to play Pacman with us.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
In 3rd grade kids were murmuring about it. I refused to listen. But then, I had to get up to go to the bathroom a few hours after I had gone to sleep on Xmas Eve. I heard my father playing with the Merlin toy he got me. I knew then that my friends at school were right so I covered my eyes (bathroom was at the top of the stairs overlooking the living room) and told them I wouldn't look and I wouldn't tell my brother and sister.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes. Only one! Well, unless we are traveling to family...then Joe and I open all our gifts the night before we leave, so this year it will be a couple of days early.
10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him?
leftover holiday party treats...
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
I WANT THREE FEET OF IT WITH NOWHERE TO GO!
12. Can you ice skate?
Sort of. I can stand. Then I start to bitch about how my ankles hurt. Fun times.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
The plum ruby ring I got from Joe for our first Christmas. I wear it all the time.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Seeing my friends and family. I feel such a wonderful happiness about little Christmas things. Snow. Decorations. Music. The whole package.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
No way I can really pick just one. I make a lot of great cookies and candies every year usually. I suppose that I love good Divinity, which is often hard to find. I can make it fairly well but it's so involved.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Trimming the tree with Joe.
18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving presents?
a bit of both. :)
19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol?
Do You Hear What I Hear
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
It depends on who makes them, but mostly yum yum. My friend and acupuncturist Sheryl admitted that she saves the ones she puts on the tree and just uses them again year after year. Cracked me up.
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