I went to bed on Wednesday night, after another very cool day in The Big Apple. I don't know why, but the air vent in the hotel was bothering me. The fan was blowing too high for my liking - too much airflow. But, it was late, and I didn't want to bother with changing the setting from HIGH to LOW. My wife offered to do it, but I told her to never mind about it.
And then, I woke up on Thursday. I had a strange, groggy feeling and my throat had one of 'those' tickles to it. As the morning wore on, and we headed to Carmine's for some killer Italian lunch, the thought of actually putting anything in my mouth brought forth feelings in the pit of my stomach the likes of which I have not felt since my worst days of drinking back in college. This was not good. and to make things stranger, my head was floating in its own elevator shaft. My whole body felt like it was perpetually going either up or down, with an occasional dip to one side or the other.
I put on my brave face, though, and ate what I could of lunch. We then hiked down to Herald Square for a look at the Empire State Building and a walk through Macy's. I was hot, breaking out in fierce sweats and in the next moment, I was freezing my butt off, restless from riding the escalators up and down eight flights of Macy's. Yes, Elizabeth, Macy's really is the largest store most people will probably ever set foot in.
Looking back, I was probably sporting a 100-plus degree temperature for most of the day, but I just chalked it up to generally not feeling well. Yeah, I can be a little slow to admit when I am really sick.
Friday came, and it was time to head back home. By then, it was obvious to all of us that I was not doing well at all. I vaguely remember even getting in the van to the airport. I seem to remember going through the Queens tunnel. I remember going through security and the guy telling me he had to check my laptop case. I remember passing out on the plane. Oh, wait, there was some kind of problem with our check-in at the airport, but that turned out to be no problem at all, but a 'simple' computer glitch. Oy... I remember riding the tram at Houston, and I think I drank some fluids and maybe ate something. I don't remember. Oh, yeah, continental did feed us from NYC to Houston - hot turkey/cheese sandwiches.
Casey picked us up at the airport in Little Rock, and we went back his place for a bit to visit with Aunt Linda, Vanessa and Samuel. I drove us home after a stop at Sonic. I was not hungry, but the sweet tea was just what I needed to keep my brain focused. We made another pit stop at Wal-Mart for the 4th cookout, and then headed home. My fever was really bad at that point (though I never flat-out admitted it until now). The temperature reading showed that it was 87 degrees outside, and I had the driver's side blower set at the lowest HEAT setting because I was freezing otherwise.
When we got home, I helped what little I could with unpacking, then I took some nite-time medicine and was fast asleep. Saturday came, and every cough made my chest feel like I was in some kind of compression chamber. My head was killing me, still feeling like it was floating in some kind of gelatin mold. I was also now sneezing and my sinuses were leaking like a bad faucet. And, yes, I still had an on-again, off-again fever.
We watched the Macy's fireworks on TV, which was cool since we had just been there the day before. Then, Shan started looking online for what I might have. I need to add here that by this time, my Mom and Emily were quickly showing a lot of the same symptoms. Not everything was the same, though, so from we can tell, I either have/had a flu or 'the' flu. I am going to the doctor Monday to find out for sure. Mom most likely had bronchitis. Emily is doing much better after taking meds, though her fever still comes and goes. Tyler had a little fever Sunday morning, but he seems to be mostly unaffected. Shan started off the week a little sick, but she seems to have dodged this thing completely... or so far anyway.
I don't know if this little ditty makes any sense or not. If not, just know that my head is still stuck in some sort of floating limbo and that I am hoping the good doctor will at least have a way to steady the ship....
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