A traffic jam/detour/pit stop/on my road to health

As those of you following my blog (and thank you for this!) know, last week Tuesday I had my last drain removed, and I was ecstatic! I mean, all day I just felt euphoric--the difference was both literal/physical and emotional/psychological. I was looking forward to all the things I could start to do, again, of increasing my physical therapy routine so that I could be on a golf course mid-December.

And then.

I woke up Thursday with a fever.

I had a head cold that I was battling on Tuesday, but I didn't think much of a little head cold--I figured the sore throat would go away soon and then all would be well--nothing could stop me!

Well, something has. Because it is day #6 of me waking up with a mild fever--and yesterday (morning #5) I finally went to see my doctor who confirmed that I have an adenovirus--and my symptoms (low grade fever of around 100-101.7, body aches/pains, sore throat, lots of phlegm) can persist for 2 weeks and I'm, potentially, contagious through Thursday, but most especially for someone like me who is recovering from surgery and the effects of chemo, my immune system is working really hard and so the risk for secondary infections (like pneumonia) is high, so my doctor has prescribed bed rest for another week! And she has especially admonished me to avoid crowd and children. Which means I'll be spending Thanksgiving with Bruno (I'm sending Matthew to his folks, even though he has vounteered to stay home and take care of me, but honestly, all I'm doing is sleeping and watching movies and reading novels. I'm not very good company right now).

It makes me very sad not to be able to join Jane & John for Thanksgiving--it has been my tradition since moving to Chapel Hill to spend turkey day at the Danielwicz-McGowan homestead--and I was especially looking forward to this year since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday (who doesn't love a holiday devoted to eating and family--OK, racial politics with American Indians are problematic--I get that). The even sadder thing about my condition is that I have no appetite. So truth be told, I don't even feel like eating right now. Which was one big tip off to me that I really needed to see the doctor--me not feel like eating? Definitely something is wrong.

And of course since bad news or bad things happen in groups (often in 3's), yesterday was also the day that my laptop monitor decided to go on the fritz. I can "sort've" see the screen, but not really--enough for me to hook up my external hard drive and back up all the files that I need, but not enough to be able to read anything that I could open. So it's off to the Apple store for my poor little laptop (which is 4 years old--I've had it as long as I've been with Matthew).

So that's what's new in my world. It seems ironic (and I do think I'm using this correctly, unlike Ms. Morisettte) that right when I get my drain out and am finally mobile again, I literally am not getting out of bed because I just lack the energy and interest in doing anything other than sleeping. And of course it's just very unjust to lose my appetite right before Thanksgiving (sigh).

But I suppose I shouldn't be moaning and groaning too much. I mean, I may not currently have my "health" so to speak, but I am definitely on the road to recovery (hence the awkward title post). And I'm REALLY looking forward to the day when I get all my mobility back, when my hair grows back, and when I start to *feel* like I did before. And I guess that has me wondering: will I?