Pneumonia and Other Ills

A few days before Halloween, I noticed that I wasn’t feeling well. I had a cough and sore throat at first, and then developed a lot of congestion. Then, the cough became worse and I started running a fever. I finally broke down Sunday and went to the urgent care clinic. The doctor there told me that I had a bad case of sinusitis, on top of which I had the flu. The two had combined forces to give me a mild case of pneumonia. He prescribed antibiotics, a round of steroids, and plenty of rest and liquids. He also advised me to stay away from people until I was fever-free.

Needless to say, I spent the next few days home from work. When I wasn’t sleeping, I read and watched a little TV, all the while trying to drink as much water as I could. Around Day Two, Steve joined me, as he had come down with the flu as well. After a couple of days, I was feeling a little better, and starting to get bored, so I knit a pair of socks for Steve from some leftover yarn that I had.

I was able to return to work Thursday, but I am still feeling pretty tired and rundown. Obviously, I won’t be doing any closet renovations this weekend, or anything else like that. I plan to spend the weekend resting, and helping my daughter get caught up on her Spanish assignments. I have also started a second pair of socks for Steve, and I think I have enough of the leftover yarn to make a pair for my dad as well.

Tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be bright and sunny. I plan to take advantage of that to fling open all the windows and air out our house, as well as wash all our bedclothes and hang them in the sun to dry and disinfect.

Once I have recuperated, I want to rededicate myself to getting the house in order. We have done some good work this year, but there is still an enormous amount to do. Over the next few weeks, I will be thinking about decluttering opportunities and household solutions. Things like remodeling the closet to have a dedicated space for coats and shoes, and purchasing a file cabinet to wrangle paperwork have already been an enormous help. I still dream of having a clear, decluttered, peaceful space for family, creativity, and home.

My goal is even more important to me now, as we had a bit of bad news this week. During a standard well-check for our kitty Bridget, we found that she tested positive for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV). She is healthy and happy now, but should the virus begin to affect her, she could become very susceptible to any little cold or injury. She is an indoor kitty, generally well-behaved, extremely energetic, and friendly to the point of being un-cat-like. Seriously, look at this face! She is so cute, she’s like a living cartoon!

IMG_4630

There is not much chance that she will spread the virus to our other kitties, but we need to provide a clean and safe environment for her in order to minimize the risk to her health. Bridget is a rescue, so we suspect that she contracted the virus from her mother as a kitten. (The virus is generally spread through bites, primarily by unneutered male cats, and it cannot be spread to humans.) She needs a healthy home where she doesn’t have to worry about piles of papers toppling on her!

So now we have one more reason to strive for a clean, uncluttered home. A healthy home for people and kitties, a calm, peaceful space. A home in which I can find a CD when I am looking for it because it is with all the other CDs in the place where the CDs live. A home in which I don’t have to call my cell phone to figure out where I laid it down. A home where one doesn’t have to worry about catching one’s toe on a board leaning up against in the wall in the dining room whilst walking through, making one say “Ow ow ow ow ow!”.



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *