Of course I had to go and tempt The Universe by proclaiming that I had cured my own Posterior Tibial Tendonitis, and smugly announce that I'm getting over my sickovirus that I caught from Farmer H. Maybe I should have paid more attention to ways of downplaying successes when I read The Good Earth. Where Olan, to ward off evil spirits, spoke aloud of her healthy first-born son as being a lowly female in poor health.
Well. I am now a lowly female in poor health. Literally.
Thursday night, I woke up several times coughing. The first time, I noticed my eyes were moist. Oh, well, I thought. I guess laying on my side makes the sinuses drain. Waking up on my back, I didn't notice anything different about my eyes. But the next time, after being on my side again, I felt something on my cheek (ON MY FACE, PEOPLE!) when I sat up.
IT WAS A TEAR!
What in the Not-Heaven? My left eye, the one that was down on the pillow, was moist, but didn't produce a tear to run down my face like the right eye. Huh. Was I having a sad dream? Sometimes I can remember every detail. This time, I could not. Maybe I was sad. But now I was just tired from not sleeping well with the cough. Could hardly keep my eyes open, in fact. It didn't matter much, because I never turn on the lights on the way to the bathroom, or once inside. Sweet Gummi Mary! That row of SHOWGIRL makeup lights over the sink is not good for anybody's eyes, especially in the middle of the night, if you want to go back to sleep.
Anyhoo...my eyes were still feeling pretty tired when I got up AT 8:00 A.M. Like I wasn't ready to start the day, even though I'd actually gone to bed early, at midnight-thirty. I squinted into the mirror under that row of SHOWGIRL makeup lights as I was letting the water warm up for my shower. Huh. My eyes were slits. Squinty. I was really dreading my trip to town in the bright sunlight, but I had to mail the boys' letters, and run by the bank, and put gas in T-Hoe.
What a never-ending trip that was! My eyes felt like I had sand in them. I wore sunglasses. I squinted. I put the visor down. I held my hand beside my head to block slanting sun rays. When I got home, I looked up conjunctivitis.
Yeah. Pretty sure I've got it. Not much you can do about it if it's viral. Which I'm sure it is, coming right on the heels of this sickovirus. The worst part is the duration. I could take from ONE to THREE WEEKS to get over it! Poppycock! I have Thanksgiving and a Pony trip to deal with.
If it's not one thing it's another. All stemming from Farmer H's poor hand-washing hygiene.
7 comments:
i hope your recovery is fast and complete. is there nothing a doctor can do? perhaps eyedrops from the chemist? i have never heard the expression midnight thirty before. did you make that up? feel better
yevisha,
Thank you. Farmer H told me I should go to the doctor, but I'd just been there on Monday for a regular appointment, and it's very hard to get a same-day appointment unless you cough up a lung and it's hanging out your mouth, or perhaps sever a limb.
I'd like to think I alone made up midnight-thirty, but I probably heard it somewhere. Like that song with lyrics about beer-thirty, that I don't even know the name of.
Can you get eyedrops from the pharmacist without a prescription? Surely if you present with slitty, gritty red and weeping eyes they can give you something?
I think you need to plaster your home with giant signs in red lettering on white board that read "WASH YOUR HANDS!!" and maybe put a picture of hands washing themselves on there too. Put them wherever Hick is likely to look.
I learned from my daughter yesterday that we don't actually ever wash our own hands. They wash each other while we stand there and watch. She read it off some twitter feed that she follows.
River,
I might be able to get artificial tears. Maybe. I don't know if they're by prescription. Stuff that gets redness out, like Visine, is not recommended for pinkeye. It seems to be getting a little better, though. If it turns worse, I can go to the doctor on Monday, I guess, even if I have to drive (have Farmer H sweave me) over there, and stand at the reception window, glaring at them with my red eyes, if I can't get an appointment. I doubt they would turn me away without at least a prescription.
River,
That's right about our hands washing themselves! Just like we don't really get a haircut. We get them ALL cut!
I think conjunctivitis is contagious--tell Hick to WASH HIS HANDS!! (How do one-armed people wash their hands?)
fishducky; I imagine one armed people do as I do when I'm wearing a brace on one hand/wrist: use the one arm to turn on the tap, grab the soap and roll it around in the one hand while under the water, put the soap back then rub those fingers together to get a bit sudsy, then rinse off and turn off the tap. Air dry.
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