Living and Learning

In my last post I mentioned how I wasn't feeling so hot after my Halloween weekend. The day after that post I was feeling horrible. I had a fever and body aches, I stayed in bed until 8pm. At that point I felt like my fever had broken and I decided to start cleaning my house. The next day....my birthday, I still wasn't feeling great but I felt a whole lot better than the day before. I DID NOT want to be sick on my birthday so I willed myself "better".
(The lesson to be learned is still to come...)
I had to get better because my drivers license expired on my birthday. I had waited until the last minute so I had to get it renewed that day.
Lesson Learned...don't wait until the last minute to renew anything.
I had been looking forward to renewing my license for FIVE years! And this is why....

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You see when I went to renew it five years ago I didn't realize I had to get my picture taken so I ran over to the DMV after I worked out one day. This picture is so hideous, every time I had to pull it out I was embarrassed. Seriously I look like a man!
Anyhoo, I made sure that I was not getting a bad picture, so I put extra effort into looking good. As I waited for my turn, I watched person after person get their picture taken and I couldn't believe how NO ONE smiled. I don't understand this! Well when it was my turn I worked that DMV camera....

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I am MUCH happier with this picture.
Lesson Learned...Every five years you have to get a new drivers license picture, make an effort to look decent.
That night Aric made me stroganoff and the he and the girls showered me with these gifts....

I got a piece of chocolate cake all to myself...we recently found out Aric can't eat chocolate anymore because it has some acid in it that makes his kidney stones. So he didn't want to make a big ol cake. I also got a apple pie flavored caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and some sweet onion chips. The best gift was my very own tool set. I had been asking for one. I am not fond of going out to Aric's tool box and not finding what I am looking for. Some of us are better at putting things back where they belong than others....No one is allowed to touch  my tool box!
By the end of the night I was starting to feel bad and I noticed a cough coming on.
Wednesday, not feeling good but still making major efforts to maintain our routine. Two of my friends thought that Wednesday was my birthday so I got two extra surprises. That night we had a bishopric dinner to go to and so we went.
Thursday, I'm really going down hill but I tell myself that I'm really not that sick. My friends had planned a dinner for me and I wasn't going to miss it. Funny things is three of my friends didn't come because they were sick or had sick people in their house!

Friday morning, I'm in BAD, BAD shape. My breathing is labored, my cough is ridiculous and I am coughing up pinkish phlem. Yes I just said that, and yes I know how gross it is. Aric insisted that I go to urgent care, so I go. While checking in the receptionist asks me to wear a mask. I look around the waiting room, no one else is wearing one. I feel dumb, but do it. I get my temp checked I'm at 101. Who knew!?  I seriously didn't think I had a fever.
Then the doctor takes one listen to me and says you need an x-ray. So I go get and x-ray. I wait forever and then my doctor tells me that I have a severe case of bronchitis with what looks like the beginning stages of PNEMONIA! WHAT!!!!!?
He says that I probably had the flu earlier that week. I should have stayed in bed and drank water until it passed. But because I didn't, I am now  paying the consequences.
Lesson Learned....I have to take care of myself when I am sick. I need to slow down.
He gives me a prescription for an antibiotic and an inhaler. I get the antibiotics...three pills=20 bucks! The inhaler...45 bucks! I decided not to get the inhaler and went home.
My breathing got worse and worse. Amy let me use Mike's inhaler...after she swabbed it good and hard with alcohol...and it definitely made a difference. Before I went to bed that night, I used their nebulizer and I was able to sleep and finally breath again.
Lesson Learned...get the inhaler, there was a reason the doctor prescribed it.
On Friday Aric and I had to cancel our reservations for my birthday dinner that I had been looking forward to for weeks. On Saturday, my sister was going to take me shopping and I had to cancel that too.
Lesson Learned....birthday dinners don't have to happen the week of your birthday. The food will still taste good and I will be able to enjoy it so much more. Also, the deals only get better the closer it gets to Thanksgiving.
On Saturday I had four people bring us food! Seriously, I'm not sure how people found out I was sick, but the food and the phone calls were heaven sent.
Lesson Learned...a meal is not just a meal. When you bring someone dinner, it truly is a gift. Not just the food that was prepared, although it did fill our bellies...it was the love that was brought with the meal, that truly is the gift.
So now I feel much better. I am at about 75%. Aric has really stepped up and taken good care of me. He has insisted that I rest and has taken over the house and kiddos. I have been able to read two books...Hunger Games and Catching Fire.

Lesson Learned...Aric takes better care of me than I do of him. I really need to work on that. Also, now I know why I am not an avid reader....I do not have the discipline to stop reading. I experienced this before when I read Twilight. I read three of them when my kids were at my moms. Then I neglected everyone for two days while I read the last one. Thankfully I had an excuse to be checked out the last two days. So now I know why I should never belong to a book club.