Ugh!

Been feeling crappy of late. Last week started coughing a bit, just a dry irritating cough. Not often, but enough to let me know that something was happening. Then came the weekend.

We had gone as a family up to a small town just north of my city for Canada's largest TruckFest. There were around 650 gorgeous highway tractor-trailer units on display there, but the main reason we went was the tractor pulls. Every year the Empire State Pullers out of New York State, together with the Great Lakes Tractor Pulling Association, wows the crowds in small-town Ontario with an awesome show. From Pro and Super Stock diesel and alcohol burning farm tractors (souped up something fierce) to single and multi-engined modified tractors, to street legal diesel pick-ups, to heavily modified pick-ups and big rigs. All pulling a special weight transfer sled on a dirt track. I love it! So does Mrs. Phoenix, and for the first time, we took our girls with us as well.

I'm not sure if it was sitting on the ground (we had those neat "stadium seat cushions" with us so we weren't actually "on the ground" but you know what I mean) or the variable temperatures and mugginess of the warehouse where I work during the week prior, but by the middle of the evening, I was blowing my nose almost constantly. By the time we got home (around 11:30 pm) I was feeling really sluggish, so I went to bed. Sunday morning I woke up with a completely stuffed head, and feeling rotten enough that I cancelled our plans to go back to the show for the demolition derbies scheduled for early Sunday afternoon. I just sat on the couch with my laptop and emptied a box of tissues! It was a real disappointment, but what can you do?

Monday, I went to work, but by 10:00 am, I was feeling so poorly, I called Mrs. Phoenix at her work and asked her to pick me up when she came home, which was about noon. I came home and went right to bed, and slept most of the afternoon. Then I spent the evening sitting on the couch working on yet another box of tissue!

Today I woke up with an incredible burning sensation in my chest and as soon as I sat up in bed began coughing fit to kill! At first they were dry, hacking coughs, but eventually I began coughing up large gobs of mucus (I know, GROSS!). The second time that happened, the mucus was streaked with red, and Mrs. Phoenix, a former nurse, said "That's it! You're NOT going to work, you're going to the doctor!" So I called in sick (for the third time in 3 weeks... not good!) and went back to sleep.

Around noon, my wife woke me up to tell me she had called my doctor's office, but he was on vacation until the end of next week, so I had to get ready to go to the walk-in clinic in town as soon as they opened, because if I was late, I'd be waiting for hours to be seen by a doctor! We got there about 5 minutes after opening, and already there was a line-up of 6 people. I ended up only waiting for about 30 minutes until I saw a doctor. He took my symptoms, and then checked my throat and ears. "A touch of bronchitis" he muttered and then said I had caught it early, but because I had coughed up blood in the morning, he sent me for chest x-rays anyway.

So, once again, I'm on antibiotics and missing several days of work. I've been off work more than at work these last 3 weeks! Between migraines, a stomach flu and now bronchitis, I'm surprised they haven't turfed me already! I remember hearing that it is illegal to fire someone for medical reasons in Ontario, but I'm sure any company worth it's salt could figure out some other way to get rid of someone who is sick all the time! It's a good thing that when I am there, I have higher than average productivity numbers and that my lead hands have marked me as one of the "go-to" guys when something needs to get done. That may save my skin in this case.

I tell you, I am getting so sick and tired of constantly being sick and tired! A friend of mine sells a product he claims will "repair my immune system" so maybe I'll give that a try. It's a natural supplement made from barley, so it couldn't hurt to try, right? We'll see.

Well, that's it for me tonight! I hope all my blogger friends are having a better week (or month) than I am!