Sick of Sickness, Prepare to Present

 I should have known it would get me in the end.

When the kindergarten class of 15 shrunk to 11, then to 8 and by Thursday stood only at 5, I should have clued in that the illness spreading rapidly through the school population would catch me.

I don't usually get sick, (only the occasional migraine or food poisoning) but I habitually lose my voice around this time of year. It's true. I wrote about the phenomenon in 2011 (twice that year, actually) and it happened when I took my Media Part 1 AQ in 2017. I stopped writing about losing my voice because it just became a regular feature of the fall.

This time, it wasn't laryngitis. On Thursday evening, as I coordinated the translators for Parent-Teacher interviews, ringing a bell every ten minutes and walking the halls to escort speakers to their next location on time, my principal commented that I looked tired. He was right. I felt tired. I attended my Media Part 2 AQ after interviews, sipping "elixir" (a mix of honey, lemon juice, and gin) to soothe my raspy throat. The next morning, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had chills, fever, a headache, a sore throat, exhaustion, and a cough that flipped between being so dry it stabbed me to so phlegmy it choked me. I called school around 8:00 am to say I couldn't come in, went to bed, and didn't rise until 4:00 pm. Thankfully, it was the second half of our interview day, so I didn't need to make supply plans. It has taken me all of Friday plus the entire weekend to slowly recover. Hubby has been insisting I rest a lot and drink lots of fluids. 

Patience is not always one of my strengths. I whined that I had much bigger plans for these three days. I wanted to clean the library (it's an absolute mess) and get other things done. Sleep was necessary but reluctantly taken. It's only now that I'm getting to the end of this period that I realize how privileged I am. I know, I know - that sounds very weird. However, I really am fortunate that:

• I have a job that gives me weekends off, so I didn't have to negotiate sick days
• I have a family that could keep an eye on me as I recovered and take over my (few) household responsibilities
• I have my usual good health, with no chronic illnesses, so that getting better took just days instead of weeks (or even happened at all)
• I have a safe city and country so that, even if it got to the stage where I'd have to see a medical professional, I'd eventually be taken care of adequately

At the GTA Resource Fair last Tuesday, I touched base with my school library friends, several of whom are recovering from significant medical issues. In my own family, I've got a cousin in hospital and another loved one at home recuperating from major surgery. So, even though I'm "sick of being sick", they have much longer roads to recovery. Note to self: suck it up, buttercup!

As I slowly regain the energy to be able to sit at my computer for more than an hour, I'm getting ready to present at two big events.

I will be presenting with Chelsea Attwell, my co-vice-president at the Association for Media Literacy. I'll share more about the events as they occur.