It's never fun to be sick

Illness is awful, especially when you're traveling. Tuesday I spent the entire day in cars, airplanes and buses getting back home to Bellingham. Somewhere around midday I began to feel a bit queasy but didn't think much of it. As I boarded the plane and faced the more-than-four-hour flight, I settled in with my iPad and read The Life of Pi. I downloaded the book to read because I enjoyed the movie so much, and it successfully held my interest throughout the long flight.

Then I had a two-hour wait for the airport shuttle and faced another three-hour-long trip north. As the day wore on, I began to feel less interested in my book and more than a bit crummy, but nothing much out of the ordinary with such a long tiring day.

However, halfway through the bus ride, I realized I was not well at all and was only saved by the bathroom in the back of the bus. I spent some time vomiting and dealing with diarrhea before I got off and into the capable hands of Smart Guy. He immediately took me home and put me to bed. My teeth were chattering so hard I couldn't talk, and I couldn't get warm for ages. Many more bouts to the bathroom with each end of my body wanting to get rid of its contents. It was simply awful.

At first I thought I had food poisoning, but then I realized I was running a temperature of 100.2, which you just don't get when you ingest something bad. All day long yesterday I spent in bed, no appetite and no desire to get up. Although I spent the entire day either sleeping or laying in bed moaning, I had no problem falling into a deep sleep last night.

I woke this morning to a normal temperature and feeling almost human in comparison to the day before. Well, it wasn't the flu, to be that short a duration, so I checked the Magic Box (you knew I would). I found that there is something called a norovirus that has a 24-to-48-hour time frame. This link gives more information, but I found this particularly interesting:

When a person becomes infected with norovirus, the virus begins to multiply within the small intestine. After approximately one to two days, norovirus symptoms can appear. The principal symptom is acute gastroenteritis that develops between 24 and 48 hours after exposure, and lasts for 24–60 hours. The disease is usually self-limiting, and characterized by nausea, forceful vomiting, watery diarrhea, and abdominal pain, and in some cases, loss of taste. General lethargy, weakness, muscle aches, headache, coughs, and low-grade fever may occur.

Yep, I can pretty much figure that is what I had. But some people don't think the laws of physics apply to them, so I got up and dressed this morning to go on my usual Thursday hike. By the time I had dressed, I was completely exhausted. Okay then, I'll just go the gym and take my usual class. Or maybe the yoga class would relax me. Ha! By the time I got there, I knew that it would take all my energy just to take a shower and sit in the steam room. Then I went home and have been sitting and relaxing ever since. My fellow Senior Trailblazers are out there hiking the Madrone Crest, which we last visited in April of this year.

One thing I am learning as I find myself actually ELDERLY, I do have to pay attention to what my body is telling me or face the consequences. Today I am still waiting for my usual healthy appetite to return and am eating the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast). Although nothing is appealing, I know I need to eat and hydrate, so I am cooperating.

I took this picture on one of our trips to the Crest a while ago, with the lovely madrone tree's limb in the foreground. These trees are so interesting.

It will still be there when we visit it next, and I'll take a picture of this same spot then. For now, my task is to get well so I can have my usual vitality back once again.
:-}