Teaching Sick Sucks...

A bit about me that I don't totally love to talk about is that I do not have the world's greatest health. A lot of the time, I am fine, but when I get sick... I get really sick. This is why they recommend that asthmatics get the flu shot.

I got the flu shot this year- both of them in fact- but I still got the flu. I can probably thank the flu shot for the very short-lived cycle I got; however, when the flu had gone away, I stayed congested. That is unfortunately just how it works with me. I am an asthmatic with bad allergies and thus nasal polyps that prevent my head from doing what it is supposed to do with congestion... as in, clear out.

So... two days later, the sinus infection kicked in. Sinus infections totally suck. I get several a year. It is like your whole head is just full of this intense pressure, and you could blow your nose and blow your nose over and over again, and it would still keep coming. It is awful. The pressure makes it so hard to think straight, it really makes me a cranky person, and I know I am not as good of a teacher when I am like this.

Then the really crappy part kicks in. I go to the doctor and get an antibiotic. It starts to clear. This SHOULD be the good part, right? It's not, because then it starts to finally loosen up and drain, but that part makes my asthma act up and my bronchials get all inflamed. It's not like a "Help, I'm suffocating," asthma attack, but it is like your chest just constantly being squeezed, and like you can never catch a full breath, and sometimes, I just start coughing and totally can't stop. One can only take so many steroids to make this better. This weekend, urgent care loaned me a nebulizer to take home, and that has been helping, but I can only use it like every few hours. My mom always feels so bad for me (because she is my mom) and said yesterday, "That must be a scary feeling," and at this point, it is not so much scary, because it is not like I am suffocating, but it is just really annoying and makes it hard to focus.

I know this is affecting my teaching. I know because I just started teaching my Holocaust unit, and this is one of my favorite units to teach and I was really excited about all the new stuff I am trying with it this year, but now I am just not feeling enthusiastic. I'm just feeling cranky and ready to move on, but not even for any good reason. I think being sick has a lot to do with it.

Well, here's hoping that I start feeling better and get the old me back quickly. I would really like to feel passionate about my job again.