Swirling Chemicals

I've been sick for a while now. A week, give or take. My illness moved from a simple cold to a sinus infection, confirmed by a visit to the doctor. And to combat that I now have a whole new cocktail of chemicals running rampant through my system.
   First there is the antibiotic. Amoxicillin. A full 10-day course. This will deplete not only the bad bugs in my system, but it will get rid of the good bugs too. Antibiotics usually mean diarrhea.
   So, to combat that I bought some probiotics. Yakult, which, come to find out, is actually made in Mexico - ironic considering I got it to keep from getting the Hershey squirts - and some stuff from the Vitamin Shoppe. Hopefully that will put beneficial flora back in my gut to replace what the antibiotics kill off.
   I also got some vitamin C. Which does make my pee an alarming, almost super-heroic shade of yellow, but otherwise I'm not certain does anything but add to the chemicals coursing through my bloodstream.
   I have some decongestant still hanging around too. Sudafed. Which, if I were a chemist and totally amoral I could turn into meth.
   Then there's the nasal spray. I got it free from the doctor, but it's a nasal steroid, so that's added to the brew inside me. It also really dries out the boogers in my sinuses, so that in the morning I basically blow out the lining of my nose. Which I think is cool but others might have a different idea.
   So instead of blood in my veins I now have a witch's cauldron of eye of newt and wing of bat. I'm not so certain it's good for me, to tell you the truth. But at least I can breathe at night.

Gimme Fever

I'm sick.
   Probably got it from work (ugh...) where some people just don't understand the concept of staying home if you've got something contagious. So I have a fever and chills, and I've been wrapped up in a blanket in my recliner for much of the morning, dozing and waking myself up with my own snoring.
   I think I've figured it out. Being sick is not just a virus's method of propagating itself - though it is that - it's really a way for your body to say 'enough' and make you rest.
   I've been sleeping poorly the past week or so, maybe longer, and I've been keeping on. Going to work, writing, fencing, working out, as if everything is just fine. But it's not. The sleep was the first clue, when that's interrupted you need to pay attention. But I didn't. And now I'm sick.
   I don't feel like going anywhere or doing anything, all I want is to sit and wrap myself in a blanket and watch really bad TV. And I probably should do just that for the next few days.
   But you know what? I'm going to get up tomorrow morning and I'm going to go to work. Why? Because if some bastard infected me with his sickness I'm going to make sure everybody else gets it too. Let them spend their Thanksgiving shivering and locked in a bedroom while the rest of the house enjoys a turkey dinner with all the trimmings.
   What's that? I'm being vindictive? Damn straight. I didn't even want to be working in the first place...

Ah, Look At All The Germy People

You know what I've noticed, being 'between assignments?' Aside from how empty the gym is at 2 PM, or how astonishingly bad daytime TV is, or how panhandlers just aren't 'in the zone' outside of morning and evening rush hours?
   I haven't been sick.
   I swear it's true, and knock wood to keep the streak going. You hear about studies of workplace illnesses, and about how the office is just one big, infected cesspool of viruses hopping from person to person. Well, it's true. I haven't been in an office in three months, and I haven't had one cold, not one sniffle, not one headache or sinus infection or sore throat. Not one.
   And it's not like I'm a hermit, either. As a matter of fact I've probably spent more time in the company of other people - and more people besides - in the past three months than I ever did when I was working. I just haven't contracted any illnesses from them.
   So if you're constantly sick at work, if you always have a stuffy nose or a chest cold that just won't seem to go away, the solution is clear. Quit. Put in your two weeks' notice and then get the hell out and get yourself better. Would you rather be healthy, or would you rather be oppressed by an unfeeling, uncaring, corporate leviathan? Your call.