May 29, 2002
Dear Everyone:
The reason there was no Letter last week is that I was sick. The Sunday before, “Jeannie” and I had gone to lunch together. We both commented on the fact that the cough I had left over from the cold I caught on Easter Sunday was sure dragging on a long time. It wasn’t until Tuesday morning that I realized that this was not the old cough. This was a new cough, accompanying yet another cold.
The week before, I had noticed that one of our temporary contract workers was coughing, sneezing and wiping her nose with her fingers. At the time I made a mental note not to touch anything she did. Apparently, I was not successful.
(By the way, this is not the “teenager” that I wrote about a few weeks ago. She’s good and gone.)
On the other hand, maybe I was just due for another cold. It seems to go in cycles for me. I’ll go two or three years without getting sick, then get sick two or three times in one year. Technically, I did catch a cold last year. But it happened on September 11th, and we all had more important things to occupy our minds. Also, I was trapped in “Hobby”, so it didn’t show up on the books as time off. By the time I finally got home, I was well enough to go back to work.
This time, I decided not to try and tough it out. I had a couple of teleconferences that Tuesday morning (Tuesday mornings are especially busy right now), then went home after lunch. I had hoped to recover quickly enough to be back at work on Thursday as there were plans for an old friend to come around and join us for lunch. But by Wednesday afternoon, I knew that this was not going to happen. Nor was I feeling up to writing a Letter.
And that was before my back decided to sprain itself again! All on it’s own, there was a sudden spasm, then pain. Just like it happened on September 11th, only without all the horror, national tragedy and being trapped in a foreign city.
If you have to have a cold and a bad back at the same time, I can definitely recommend doing it at home, rather than in a hotel. At home, I could read any one of hundreds of books, even ones I haven’t read before. I could use a heating pad to warm the aching muscle. I could even get myself a nice, hot cup of cocoa, with extra whipped cream, without hitting the expense account with a $15.00 charge.
The only problem with reading is that printed material, books, magazines, newspapers, tend to give off a faint film that usually goes unnoticed. But it’s enough to further irritate an already sore throat, thus causing additional coughing. Three things you don’t want to do with a sprained back: Cough; sneeze; hiccup. Especially the last.
So that left TV, which I watched quite a lot while contemplating “Frankie’s” latest homework assignment (which I will complete, just not as soon as requested). By Monday, I felt well enough (and desperate enough) to go shopping and pick up more cough syrup, throat lozenges, and 10 new boxes of Kleenexes, three of which have already been opened.
Each day, I feel “less lousy than yesterday”. The cough is abating. The back is relaxing. Life will be good again.
Love, as always,
Pete
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