A Week of Sickness

I am SO glad this past week is now over with!! It was a long week that began last Saturday morning when I woke up with extreme back pain. I called my doctor (in Sarasota) and he advised me to go to the ER and get it checked out. So, that's what I did. They told me I had a Urinary Tract Infection, prescribed some meds, and I was out of there.


But the pain continued. I went to work Monday, but left at lunchtime. I went home, took a nap and it got worse from there. I felt awful. My back pain was still there. I rested for the remainder of the evening but still felt crummy. I woke up Tuesday morning, attempted to get ready for work and realized I could barely stand and there was no way I was going to make it through the entire day with my students. I called in to the school secretary, and went back to bed. I slept from 7:30 til 2 without waking up once. I woke up sweating and had broken a fever, but I was still experiencing the back pain. This was Day 3 of antibiotics for the UTI, but they didn't appear to be helping at all. So, I called my doctor and explained the situation.

I was signed up for a workshop on Tuesday evening, and was the only one from my grade level that would be representing our school. Since the workshop was only an hour and a half long, I decided to get myself dressed and ready so that I could go. I was uncomfortable through the whole thing but I made it. I had spoken to my doctor and he told me I really needed to be seen by someone again. I went to work on Wednesday-not feeling 100%, but I wanted to make the attempt. I began experiencing some discomfort and found some bumps/cyst-like things and that put a whole new dimension on things. When I told my doctor, he told me again that I really needed to see someone. So, I took Thursday off and drove to Sarasota (in horrible weather, I might add!) to see my doctor. He thinks I could have shingles or a fixed-drug eruption from the antibiotic I was taking for the UTI. He ruled out the UTI and told me to stop taking those meds and he put me on some others. I am still waiting on bloodwork results, but I am feeling 10x better!

The past week was a blur. On top of all of it, I have had a bad cough and lots of nasal congestion. I'm usually a pretty healthy person, but not knowing for a few days about what exactly was going on in my body was worrysome. When you work a full-time job and have to worry about a sub and who will be watching your class of 20 students, you usually think twice about being out because it's not easy preparing for a sub. What I learned this week though is when you're sick-you're sick. Thankfully, we are given sick days to take and I'm fortunate enough to work with a supportive team and for an understanding principal.

I'm glad to be feeling more like myself. This week is our last week before we begin our state FCAT testing next week. Ahhh, I can't believe we're this close! This year has certainly flown by, just like all the rest of 'em!