D.C. and Sick Days
Well, I am sick. I spent the last week suffering with what has been identified as the flu, as well as possibly a sinus infection and possibly strep throat. I must be doing some serious damage to my immune system because I rarely get sick and this was just awful. I finally could not take it any longer on Friday when I woke up with trouble breathing. I walked to the clinic on campus and met the new Nurse Practitioner, Lori. She was a very nice woman, and she told me I had to take Friday off so that I can sleep, and then gave me some medication to take to fight the flu and the infections. Now I'm on an antibiotic for ten days and Robitussin DM and Pseudoephed until they run out.
After sleeping most of the day yesterday, and of course with the help of the medication, I feel a lot better already. I know I'm not fully recovered, but I felt well enough this morning to go in to work today, and as the day progressed I felt better and better. I think tomorrow I'm going to try drinking coffee again, but I didn't want to chance it yesterday or today considering how much my throat was bothering me. I do know that I'm going through a bit of caffeine withdrawal, though.
Besides the illness, though, I've been doing fairly well since last we spoke. I spent a week at home for spring break, and the weather was very nice for most of that week. Actually, I think I need to spend some time on that week...
I left school on March 4, but I didn't go straight home. I stopped in Meadville to visit Trae, who I haven't seen in ages. It was nice to spend some time with him. I arrived in time for dinner on Friday night and spent the entire day getting a tour of Allegheny College and Meadville on Saturday. Trae is doing well; in fact, he is just finishing his spring break this weekend. I had a good time, and I was very happy to see Trae again after such a long time. I'm hoping that we'll be able to spend some time together this summer so that it won't be another year before we see each other.
So, late that Saturday I arrived home, and I spent most of the week relaxing and trying to train Megan's new puppy. He's a horrible menace and won't listen at all; I even tried using a shock collar on him, but he just takes the shock and keeps going. I need to get a book to learn how to keep him from jumping on people, trying to run out the door, and most importantly, to get him to stop chewing on remotes and other valuables. The good news is that we finally found something that works for walking. We were thinking of buying a bite collar at Petsmart, but we decided to try it out before purchasing. I'm happy we did because just like the regular collar, Viggo just pulled and pulled. I was afraid that the spikes would really hurt him if he kept pulling like that, so we went with something else called a gentle leader. The leader straps around his nose without holding his mouth shut, and if he pulls it pulls his head down. I didn't expect it to work as well as it did. The first time I walked him with the leader on, he walked right by my side without pulling a bit. In fact, the biggest issue I had was that he didn't like the leader strapped around his nose and he spent a lot of time trying to take it off, which usually ended up wrapping his legs up in the leash. I think after a while he'll get used to it, and I'm just happy that he's not pulling so much now.
The most important thing that happened over break, though, was the birth of my niece, Teagan Bailey. Beth went into labor on Thursday night, and we received the call around 12:30AM. We did all that we could to rush out to Steubenville, but that was the one day when the weather was not nice. In fact, it had started snowing when the sun set and by the time we got the call the roads were covered and it was still coming down. It took us a while just to get out of Beaver Falls, and we didn't make it to the hospital until after 3. The problem was, we had been up all day Thursday, and sleeping in the car was impossible, so we were all exhausted. The "waiting room" was more like a hallway with some chairs on one wall and a coke machine on the other, so sleeping there was fairly difficult as well. We waited for twelve hours after our arrival for Teagan to be born at 3:10PM on March 11. She was born 4 pounds, 13 ounces and 19 inches long. She's adorable, and I was so upset that I had to leave so soon after her birth.
I came back to Mansfield that Sunday and spent a week with little to show for it. This past weekend, though, I took a field trip to Washington D.C. with my Sociology class. I enjoyed visiting the Holocaust Museum, and I also was able to visit a homeless shelter, though I didn't enjoy that as much. Most of the time, though, I spent meandering around D.C. taking pictures of things that I found interesting. I took a ton of photos. They are all up on facebook and deviantart, as well as a photo gallery on my Web site. Seriously, check them out if you haven't already. I know I might be tooting my own horn, but I think a few of them are really good.
Well, that's about it. I've arrived back to the time when my illness began, and I've already told you about that. I'm hoping that I'll be feeling even better tomorrow; I'd like to head over to the gym if I'm feeling up to it. I haven't been to the gym since I got back from spring break, and though the weather was nice enough for a four mile run last Friday, it's cold again and I need to exercise.
Later,
Joshua
After sleeping most of the day yesterday, and of course with the help of the medication, I feel a lot better already. I know I'm not fully recovered, but I felt well enough this morning to go in to work today, and as the day progressed I felt better and better. I think tomorrow I'm going to try drinking coffee again, but I didn't want to chance it yesterday or today considering how much my throat was bothering me. I do know that I'm going through a bit of caffeine withdrawal, though.
Besides the illness, though, I've been doing fairly well since last we spoke. I spent a week at home for spring break, and the weather was very nice for most of that week. Actually, I think I need to spend some time on that week...
I left school on March 4, but I didn't go straight home. I stopped in Meadville to visit Trae, who I haven't seen in ages. It was nice to spend some time with him. I arrived in time for dinner on Friday night and spent the entire day getting a tour of Allegheny College and Meadville on Saturday. Trae is doing well; in fact, he is just finishing his spring break this weekend. I had a good time, and I was very happy to see Trae again after such a long time. I'm hoping that we'll be able to spend some time together this summer so that it won't be another year before we see each other.
So, late that Saturday I arrived home, and I spent most of the week relaxing and trying to train Megan's new puppy. He's a horrible menace and won't listen at all; I even tried using a shock collar on him, but he just takes the shock and keeps going. I need to get a book to learn how to keep him from jumping on people, trying to run out the door, and most importantly, to get him to stop chewing on remotes and other valuables. The good news is that we finally found something that works for walking. We were thinking of buying a bite collar at Petsmart, but we decided to try it out before purchasing. I'm happy we did because just like the regular collar, Viggo just pulled and pulled. I was afraid that the spikes would really hurt him if he kept pulling like that, so we went with something else called a gentle leader. The leader straps around his nose without holding his mouth shut, and if he pulls it pulls his head down. I didn't expect it to work as well as it did. The first time I walked him with the leader on, he walked right by my side without pulling a bit. In fact, the biggest issue I had was that he didn't like the leader strapped around his nose and he spent a lot of time trying to take it off, which usually ended up wrapping his legs up in the leash. I think after a while he'll get used to it, and I'm just happy that he's not pulling so much now.
The most important thing that happened over break, though, was the birth of my niece, Teagan Bailey. Beth went into labor on Thursday night, and we received the call around 12:30AM. We did all that we could to rush out to Steubenville, but that was the one day when the weather was not nice. In fact, it had started snowing when the sun set and by the time we got the call the roads were covered and it was still coming down. It took us a while just to get out of Beaver Falls, and we didn't make it to the hospital until after 3. The problem was, we had been up all day Thursday, and sleeping in the car was impossible, so we were all exhausted. The "waiting room" was more like a hallway with some chairs on one wall and a coke machine on the other, so sleeping there was fairly difficult as well. We waited for twelve hours after our arrival for Teagan to be born at 3:10PM on March 11. She was born 4 pounds, 13 ounces and 19 inches long. She's adorable, and I was so upset that I had to leave so soon after her birth.
I came back to Mansfield that Sunday and spent a week with little to show for it. This past weekend, though, I took a field trip to Washington D.C. with my Sociology class. I enjoyed visiting the Holocaust Museum, and I also was able to visit a homeless shelter, though I didn't enjoy that as much. Most of the time, though, I spent meandering around D.C. taking pictures of things that I found interesting. I took a ton of photos. They are all up on facebook and deviantart, as well as a photo gallery on my Web site. Seriously, check them out if you haven't already. I know I might be tooting my own horn, but I think a few of them are really good.
Well, that's about it. I've arrived back to the time when my illness began, and I've already told you about that. I'm hoping that I'll be feeling even better tomorrow; I'd like to head over to the gym if I'm feeling up to it. I haven't been to the gym since I got back from spring break, and though the weather was nice enough for a four mile run last Friday, it's cold again and I need to exercise.
Later,
Joshua
0 Comments:
Post a Comment