My cold was at its worst on the first day, Saturday. It wasn’t ever all that bad to begin with; I spent most of the weekend on the couch more in the hopes that it would help me get well sooner than because I absolutely needed to. Yesterday I worked until 3:30ish, erged a very light 3K, and made our dinner. (I washed my hands a lot to spare Ted!) It’s been a little bit better each day since then; today I’m not even itching to go home early – at least, no more than usual.
Getting better is a matter of some urgency, because I have to get on a place on Saturday, to our place in Oregon. Also, we have a race the weekend after though if I’m still not well I’ll skip that.
So what I really don’t need is to have coworkers telling me about the cold they had that hung around for four weeks. Listen, dude, I’ve had those too. This isn’t one of them.
I don’t even need to hear from the guy who probably gave it to me about how much it was like his. He was out of work for four days – ill for six, since there was a weekend in there. WHile I generally applaud the sensible Dutch habit of staying home when you’re sick, I’m not going to go to extremes – it’s a minor cold, fer sakes’ sake, not a flu or pneumonia or anything else major. Staying home until you’re not even coughing seems a bit excessive to me, especially given that I’ve had post-illness coughs hang around for months. (But this one won’t! Because it is a minor cold! And will go away completely Real Soon Now!) Anyway, his doesn’t actually sound that much like mine; yes, neither of us had fevers, but his was all in his lungs and so far mine has stayed above the neck. A cough is not the same as every other cough; a minor dry my-throat-is-annoyed-by-drippage cough is definitely not the same as the cough you get when there’s major gunk in your lungs.
So to make it clear: Minor cold. Going away any second now. Coworkers, please stay far away to preserve your physical health (because no one wants even a small cold) and my mental health. I don’t want to have to yell at anyone.
(I do hope my ears and sinuses unclog soon, though!)