Every so often, my regular Friday off coincides with a Monday holiday giving me a lovely, unplanned 4 day weekend. Happily, this weekend is one of them! I'm dropping Jim off tomorrow morning at Noah's so his friends can pick him up and head to Vegas for their fantasy football draft - he won't be back until Sunday. We'll have breakfast before he goes and then the rest of the weekend is all me time. :) I'm going to get a pedicure, swing by the local Farmer's Market to get some goodies for gazpacho and I might even try my hand at some homemade bread. But, what I'm most looking forward to is 4 days of sewing. I have a private lesson tomorrow afternoon to learn how to add a lining to a wool skirt and a group class on boxer shorts on Sunday. In between those, I have a stack of other projects calling my name and an ipod full of tunes to keep me company. I'm so very excited!!
Illness update: Talked to the nurse at urgent care today and whadaya know, I'm a probable pertussis case. Wheeee! :/ Day 24 and I'm still coughing all night, though things have definitely improved in the past few days - I can taste my food again and I don't feel like I've been run over by a mack truck any more. The smoke and ash from the fires raging above us aren't helping matters, but what can you do. I'm hoping that within the next few weeks I should start feeling more and more like myself. I'm even going to try a weights class this weekend to see how it goes and to try and start building my strength back up.
And here is where I get on my soapbox:
Please, please, please vaccinate your children! I think I had a "mild" adult form of this disease and it has completely knocked me on my ass. For young kids and babies, severe complications and even death can occur. It's frightening for me, an adult, to not be able to breathe during the coughing fits, but for a child it can be much more than scary. This is not like a mild cold or flu bug that your body will shake off after a few days. I can't imagine watching a child with this - the vomiting while coughing, turning blue from not breathing, etc. :( This is a nasty little bug and there is a reason a vaccine was developed for it.
And for everyone, please talk to your doctor about getting the Tdap booster shot - this covers diptheria, pertussis and tetanus. Additional information can be found here. Immunity to pertussis wanes as you get older - pertussis appears to be on the rise and teens and adults are the reservoirs. Not only can the booster prevent you from getting sick (I can't stress enough that you DO NOT WANT THIS BUG!), but it could prevent you from getting it and passing it along to a young child.
I'll step off my soapbox now, but please feel free to ask me any questions you may have about this. After the past month, it's something that has become extremely important to me and I hope to all of you, too.
Gosh, I hope you feel better soon. And ITA agree with the vaccination thing.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your 4-day weekend! Can't wait to hear about the sewing!
You poor thing :( I just got my flu shot yesterday. I shall ask about this booster shot and see if I can get that too. I hope the four-day downtime will help you recover faster.
ReplyDeleteYour weekend sounds fabulous! Hope you will feel well enough to really enjoy it.
ReplyDeletePeople who don't get vaccinations are idiots.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow. I hope you feel better soon and have a wonderful time sewing.
ReplyDelete*so glad I got Charlie vaccinated and will continue to do so
I'm glad you're feeling better - even if it is baby steps! I feel like everyone but me has a 4 day weekend - traffic was horrendous coming home last night.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm all about the vaccines, too. I heard an awful story about an unvaccinated kid in San Diego who got the measles or something random overseas and caused all sorts of issues for a large portion of the city.
when i went to the ER, they saw it had been 9 years since my last tetanus booster. but then they forgot and released me without giving me the shot. i hate shots, but maybe i'll get one next time i have my checkup. :(
ReplyDeletehave a fabulous weekend!
I am so envious of your alone time this weekend! I'm officially living vicariously now!
ReplyDeletePertussis:
My Butter was sicker than sick when he was two...all the way through three. I kept being told it was allergies or a virus. When he was tested (after I TOLD THEM HE WOULD BE TESTED) for allergies, we found he was not allergic to anything. Rather, he had THREE bacterial infections in his sinus cavities, many of which were now solid (thank you, CT scan) and all of which were resistant to interlocking antibiotics. He had to have SURGERY to ensure that the infections wouldn't continue on to his BRAIN. We also found that despite vaccinations, his immune system wasn't up to par against pertussis and pneumonia. Out of 27, he had immunity to only 4.
People who don't vaccinate, fucking SLAY ME. My son's had MORE boosters before the age of 4 than most adults. This is in an effort to keep him and others around him HEALTHY. Stupid parents.
And you thought you were on a soapbox!
Your weekend of sewing sounds so fun! The wool skirt lessons will come in handy with fall and winter coming, and I lol'd at the boxer shorts class! Re the pertussis, I don't think that's what I had because with the exception of a few random coughs each day, I haven't had symptoms for about a week now. I'm so sorry you're still feeling so crappy and hope you get some real relief soon. xoxo
ReplyDeletei'm late, but i sure hope you tried the breadmaking.
ReplyDeleteand you KNOW i'm all about the vaccinations. i'm with the monkey on this one.
and of course the right to make your own parent choices is important, but not more so than ensuring public safety, people. come on.
I hope by now you're finally feeling better!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm looking forward to seeing more of your sewing projects...so far I've been really impressed by what you've managed to make right away!