Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder



Um... not so much. At least not in the blogging world. At least not when you go stagnant on your blogging. And it hasn't just been over here either - I went almost a week between posts even at my recipe blog, Deep South Dish.

I can't really blame it on recent events, though that has contributed indeed - at least for this past week or so - though admittedly, I guess even before that, I've had writers block a bit.  I see a few bloggers that just give themselves permission to post a simple thought in a sentence or two or a quote, but for some reason I haven't even been able to do that, because ... as you've probably noticed, I don't much ever just say one line. I'm southern and I'm long winded.

I did have a rough week last week.  First, my dog Sally, the large lab, took ill.  Granted by dog years she was in her 90s (age 12, about max life expectancy for her breed) so she'd been showing her age lately, in her cloudy eyes, the changes in her face and in stiffness when she got up and tried to move around, but suddenly one day she stopped eating and drinking and just sort of went downhill from there, just finally laid down and refused to get up or walk.  I gave it two nights and a day and knew the inevitable had arrived so off we carried her to the vet. That's the first time I've ever had to do that, even with all the pets I've had, but I just could not bear her suffering.

In between that time, my son asked to borrow my rarely used anymore car because he was waiting on a part for his. We both have Mustangs. We had spent the late afternoon earlier over there with the grandbabies so it was evening when he discovered he had a dilemma. That was evening one when Miss Sally first started acting sick. Anyway, off I go to bring the car over to him - and by the way, if you stop driving at night pretty much, you'll find that you're not fond of driving at night anymore - and I'm tooling along when the car suddenly decides to die. At a traffic light. In the middle of the highway. And it will not restart. Right in front of Walmart. If you frequent Walmart, you know that is decidedly not a good thing. Talk about stress!

Four or five phone calls to my husband's cellphone where I get to talk to his voicemail multiple times and tell it I need help to get out of the middle of the road, and there might have been some Mel Gibson $^%& going on in those last two messages {okay, maybe not Mel Gibson bad, but definitely more stress}.  The Cajun finally got my messages, but by then I'd gotten my car to crank by some freak of nature and took it over to the Walmart parking area and wasn't where I said I was anymore.  Husband and son finally show up, and I get the car over to my son's house, he figures out the brand new battery I just bought is bad, exchanges my battery for his and he's all set for work in the morning. I sure could have used a Valium about that time. What a fiasco.

Got home and Sally wasn't doing well, though she was walking still at that point, so I spent the next day and night worried over her {more stress}. Fast forward to the vet's office, a lot of sadness, crying, heartbreak and sick to your stomach stress.

And... nice. There's a Tropical Storm heading right our way.  Just what I need right now. OMG would somebody just shoot me already? {thank GOD that fizzled out}

Next day then I started getting sick and spent several days in bed with flu like symptoms - fever, chills, general malaise, you know. I kinda think it was partly stressed induced {really? ya think?} but to be honest, my immune system ain't what it used to be anymore either since blogging full time and becoming a hermit who doesn't go anywhere beyond the grocery store and Walmart much.  I'm pretty sure that I picked up a bug from the grandkids to be honest, because I often feel a little "buggy" when I get home from visits over there, but this? This was a doozy y'all.

Anybody got any tips on boosting the immune system for work at home bloggers let me know!

Finally got better, but had a lingering cough that is the worse cough I think I have ever had in my life so I've been hacking up a lung here, running around with my favorite Vicks VapoRub perfuming me all day and every night, working with my favorite oils and trying to mend myself because, well, I just don't do doctors unless I have no other choice. {Not that I don't like doctors, I do. In fact, they saved my wretched life once when I was in my 20s - I should share that story some day}  The cough was miserable and tiring, my chest wall hurt so bad that I felt like I was getting pleurisy, and the cough wasn't very productive and getting rid of it was slooooooooow coming, and I wasn't getting ANY sleep. And my throat? RAW.

Then I remembered yesterday that despite all the new medical technology out there and all the new medications they come up with, I'm an old fashioned girl and an old fashioned standby that I know works for me with mucus congested lungs - guaifenesin - was available over the counter now and sent The Cajun to get me some. Dose one and I slept for the first time last night more than I've slept since last Friday.

OMG.  Spend all night unable to sleep and coughing so hard you taste your lungs, and see how you feel.

I think I'm on the mend. Finally. Praise God for you peeps over at Mucinex - I think I love y'all. I told The Cajun, get the MAXIMUM STRENGTH ones, and you can only take one of these every 12 hours so it might take a few days, BUT it seems to be working. Yay! If not, I guess I'll carry my butt to the doctor, where, since my immune system sucks, I'll be sure to pick up an extra germ or three for certain.

What's that got to do with the dragonfly up there? Not. A. Single. Thing.  That's just one of about a half dozen dragonflies that follow me around the garden since the great butterfly {and dragonfly} rescue and they are always happy to pose though I never seem to have the right lens on me. I happened to catch him this afternoon so thought I'd share him with you.

Thanks to those of you who do hang around and read my blather here for your sweet thoughts, hugs and prayers about my sweet ole gal Sally.  That really means a lot to me.

~

9 comments:

  1. Oh sweetie, I am so sorry. Sorry for everything, especially your doggy. And then getting sick on top of that.

    This may sound weird, but I have become a firm believer in gargling with warm salt water. It keeps the cold germs from latching on to the back of your throat. As soon as I get home from school every day, I gargle. The only time I had a cold last year, was over Christmas break, when I stopped gargling. Try it.

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  2. Thanks Pam!! I am a believer in salt water gargles too - never thought to just simply do it every day. Duh. Brilliant! Thanks so much. :)

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  3. Mary I would have gone for the codeine at some point. It's hard to get unless you luck out with a very old-fashioned doctor, though. But it works like a charm and even if it doesn't work, you just don't care!!! tee hee.

    You have had a rotten ol' time lately. Things will look up!!! Fall is coming.

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  4. Holly, let me tell ya, I considered going to the doctor for that SOLE reason!!

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  5. Oh Mary, so sorry that life has been rough lately.Your poor sweet doggy-that is so hard to take.
    Hope you are on the mend.
    When you feel better you'll feel like blogging again, maybe, unless you've got the blaaahs like me. sigh~

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  6. I am sorry about your doggie. I'm sorry you are sick. Papa has those exact symtoms. Last night I thought he was going to cough up a lung for sure!!

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  7. Hmmmm. I don't know what happened there. I guess I just wanted to really make my point.

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  8. Lynda, I think I have those blahs too.

    LOL Nana, don't worry about it. OMG, I have been MISERABLE. This, whatever it is, is apparently going around because a lot of people are talking about it. The Mucinex is really helping. Wish I would have started it days ago. Within about 15 mins of taking it, I can feel the pressure come off of my lungs and while it doesn't do away with the cough completely, it certainly minimizes it. Hopefully it'll be gone in a couple more days, geez! Maybe Papa needs some Mucinex too.

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  9. Seems like things can only get better from here on out.
    Prayers for you and Sally.

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