Reply #28: Christmas 1999 [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

I was sicker than I'd been in years. I was all ready to sing at my church's Christmas Eve service and fly to Minneapolis the next morning.

However, on the evening of 12/23, I started feeling feverish, and within two hours, I was completely crawl-into-bed-and-hope-for-death sick: 103 degree fever, muscle aches, headache, respiratory symptoms

I hoped that I would feel better in the morning, but nothing had changed. Fortunately I had a phone by the bed to call my relatives in Minneapolis, the church choir director, and the airline. Otherwise, I just lay in bed with the radio on, drifting in and out of consciousness all Christmas Eve day and night.

On Christmas morning, I was coughing so hard that I was afraid I had pneumonia. I had an arrangement with another single woman in my building that we would call upon each other in emergencies, so I called and asked her to take me to the Kaiser urgent care clinic.

There I learned that I did not have pneumonia, just a really, really bad respiratory infection.

By evening, my fever had broken and I was able to get up a little bit and make myself some "sick food."

By the 27th, I felt well enough to travel, so I went to Minneapolis for a belated Christmas celebration. However, the cough hung on for the whole visit, especially since my elders keep their house hot and dry.