Thursday, July 13, 2017

Sicko sympathy

My husband has some kind of cold/flu/upper respiratory illness happening right now and I'm so miserable for him.  I wish more than anything he could transfer it to me for a 5 day spell.  This weekend, he's had long standing plans to go to San Fran on a guys trip.  He leaves Friday night and will come back Monday.  I actually have a late flight out on Monday for work that week, so hopefully we'll get to cross paths in the airport for about 30 minutes after he lands and before I board.  But anyway, he has been so excited about this trip for so long.  It feels so unfair that he'd get sick right before it. 


When we first started dating, he spent a lot more time dealing with the general public and I felt like he used to get all kinds of illnesses, and often transfer them to me.  It felt like once a year, we'd both get a horrible upper respiratory infection (usually him first, then I'd be a few days behind).  But since he changed jobs a few years ago, he spends more time at his desk and deals with fewer people (though still way more than me).  And since then, we both seem to get sick very rarely.  I've actually never taken a sick day in more than 6? years at my job (though that's misleading, because I have been sick, just never too sick to be unable to work from home).  But I haven't even had a sniffle in ages, and he really hasn't either.  The timing sucks for him. 


In San Fran, the primary plan is to attend this event called Lamb Jam.  Tickets were actually way more expensive than I'd ever have guessed, and are already purchased.  It's 100% not my thing.  From what I understand, it's a music festival put on my our nation's lamb farmers, and a bunch of chefs come from all over and cook dishes featuring lamb.  Exactly the kind of place I do not belong as a vegetarian!  I'm also not really a music festival person.  I'm sure they're fine, but it's not even close to the top of my list of things to do in the Bay Area. 


My husband will gladly eat vegetarian things, but he will also readily add meat to something I make -- usually chicken or tuna.  He's never been a big eater of beef or pork.  But unfortunately for my animal-loving self, he loves "the weird meats" the most -- rabbit, lamb, stuff like that.  And he's also way more musical than me.  Lamb Jam is right up his alley! 


He's been so excited about this weekend, he's even made up a song about it that he has been singing at least every other day for more than a month, sometimes many times per day.  Technically, I suppose I might be exaggerating to call it a song -- it's really just melodic repetition of the phrase "Lamb Jam."  But he gets so excited about it when he sings it. 


We've both been getting killed at work lately, and he's been super stressed.  Summer is always a rough season in his job, and for some reason, this summer is particularly bad.  Lots of really hard stuff for him to deal with.  I'm trying to convince him to talk to a professional about it, because it's really getting to him sometimes, to the point where he has been having trouble sleeping, and this week, he's had an upset stomach. 


Not clear yet if the insomnia and upset stomach are related to all this nasal/coughing stuff he's got going on.  I'd guess not, but who knows.  Anyway, to add to not being able to sleep because of work stuff, for the last few nights, he's been waking up coughing horribly.  Tuesday night, he was actually coughing so hard and suddenly stopped that I jumped up from bed and was tearing through the bathroom to find towels, I was so convinced he'd just puked all over.  He was practically crying after the coughing spell and was very confused when I came rushing over with towels and was trying to figure out where/what to mop up in the dark. 


So he went to the doctor yesterday.  He managed to avoid the chest xray and got meds (cough stuff, z-pack, prednisone, nebulizer meds), so hopefully those will kick in today and his long-anticipated trip won't be a miserable mess.  Fingers crossed for him! 

1 comment:

  1. Hope he feels better!

    I think you are on to something with the sleep/stress ... those are both known things that can lower a body's immunity. I know when I get over-tired I develop cold-like symptoms, which if ignored turn into an actual cold!

    Talking to a professional is probably also a great idea - someone objective to help gain perspective and sort & compartmentalize.

    Good luck to both of you! And while I love music and will eat pretty much anything ... not near the top of my list of stuff to do in the Bay area either :)

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