I’ve been sick for a week.

I went to the Take Care Clinic near my house on Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning of last week. Strep test was negative, Flu test was negative, but my symptoms of cough, sinus congestion, fever, chills, sore throat, chest congestion, upset stomach, and headache were still very real. And it floored me. The last time I’ve been this sick was October of 2002.

At first they told me just to use over the counter products to help ease my symptoms but after a few days I had them prescribe a Medrol dose pack, which has been helping me feel normal again. Here is a picture of all the medicine I took this morning, just so I can function:

From left to right:

• Mucinex DM, to clear up the chest congestion
• Morning’s dose of Medrol, which so far has been a miracle drug
• Ammoxicillin, because everything I’ve coughed up shows signs of infection
• Claritin, to clear up the sinus congestion
• Advil, for the muscle aches
• Tylenol, for the head ache
• Vitamin C, beacuse it’s important
• Multivitamin, because it can’t hurt
• DayQuil, for the cough

I’m thankful I’ve had enough PTO at work to take three days off last week. Thankfully, Martin Luther King Jr Day is an observed work holiday, so I get one last day today to rest up.

I am going to avoid the office for as long as I can, because I have no idea how long before I’m not contagious. There seems to be a consensus at 7-10 days before the symptoms truly subside, so I’m using that as a rule of thumb. Working from home is the easy part, because my employer makes it easy to work remotely (since I do a lot of after hours work). It won’t be difficult to make sure my coworkers in the office don’t come down with this virus. What’s more difficult is protecting my wife from it. So far she hasn’t shown any symptoms of it, for which I am very thankful.

I’ll be glad once I can get this sickness behind me. I don’t wish this on anyone.