The first week of April I picked up my son from school and he was sick, he got over it pretty quickly (thank God). Then I got sick, i’m unsure the source but over the next 10 days I lost my taste, smell, and a little bit of my hearing (this is where it got scary).
I had a lot of congestion, which went into my sinuses, lungs, and ears because it felt like there was water in my ears constantly and my hearing was at about 50%. I do not have health insurance (thanks America!) so I battled this the old fashioned way: vitamins, water, coffee, prayer, medicine, and sleep. I get over sicknesses pretty quickly using this method, however this time I experienced a fun setback after a negative reaction to night time flu meds.
That saturday night I went to Walgreens and got their store brand Sudafed type stuff, it was “severe cold and flu” and I took the normal dosage of the PM that night and had weird, weird dreams. My memory is foggy but I remember sleepwalking or something to that affect but I had no understanding of where I was, I thought it was all a dream. So Sunday night I take another dose of the PM and that’s where it all went to shit.
It felt like a dream and I’m sure some of it was a fever dream but I woke up Monday morning with blood on my pillow, a huge bump/gash on my forehead, and incredible back/hip pain which inhibited my breathing (this is where my lung congestion sucked bad). I have almost no memory of what happened but from what I do remember, I got incredibly sweaty after taking the medicine and I fell multiple times and hit my head hard.
As a dad, I was so scared because all I could think about was my son finding me dead or seriously hurt from a head injury. And I have to be around for him, I’m the only dad he has and I adore him and I HAVE to be here, I can’t die, he needs me.
I battled multiple fevers that week and I fell so hard that I couldn’t take deep breaths, but thankfully my sister is a nurse and she checked on me and helped me rehab my breathing with some exercises.
Now it’s been roughly 3 weeks and my strength is not fully back and my congestion is nearing an end. I got my taste/smell back about 10 days ago and my hearing is now at about 90% (except every time I swallow/blow my nose my ears pop!).
I lost 15 pounds and am now under 300 lolololol. Not the way I wanted to do it but now I’m rebounding, my appetite is better but still not there. I desperately need protein so I’ve been hammering what I can. I feel lost without the gym, and I want to go back but a simple 10 minutes makes me feel like I’ve ran a marathon, baby steps Nathan, baby steps. I’m excited to start cooking for myself again, it’s been take out and struggle meals lately.
Here’s to not dying!
-nathan