Gary and I sang the Karaoke last night from 9 till twelve. (I performed exceedingly well on "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" - it's my new theme song.)
I was getting ready for bed, and suddenly (I mean suddenly) my throat closed up. I was in the bathroom and saw my face had reddened and swollen. I staggered off to find Gary, who was easy to find because he was ranting loudly about work. I wheezed, "Can't breathe."
"You sang too hard," he grouched. I looked at him and sat down hard. "I feel sick. Really, really sick." I had gained a sudden appreciation for people with asthma, since I was fighting for air.
"So go to bed. It's twelve thirty." (Yes, he had been ranting about work for half an hour.)
So I lay in bed gasping, wondering what I had done or eaten to cause such an allergic reaction. Then I got up and turned on the heat. Back in bed, Doug looked at me and began whining. Then the shivering began. I have had chills, but this was A Chill. Violent and didn't let up. I gripped myself hard and shuddered constantly until 12:45. Gary was alerted by now both the dogs whining, and got the thermometer. No fever. 97 degrees in fact.
Five minutes later. Temperature? 102.8. He fed me a smorgasbord of Tylenol (we have five kinds here!), got me an extra cover, and called the nurse hotline. I wondered if these were the nurses across the hall. She stayed on the line until 1:30 as Gary took my temperature every five minutes, I threw up, and she gave him valuable information: Do NOT put covers on someone who has a temperature, even if they have been shaking like they are having a seizure. She mentioned this as he was plugging in the heating pad.
1:30. Temperature? 98.6. He gave me Tylenol PM (to top off the Tylenol, Tylenol Flu, Tylenol Extra Strength, and Tylenol Sinus) and looked up bird flu on the Internet as I lay there and decided I need to start a blog and write poetry.
So I had the one hour Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome. (I'm sure they will make a Tylenol SARS for that.) I feel fine now, but I'm not leaving the house, not even for Starbucks. And the idea of a poetry blog seems pretty funny now.
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