I have the best of
intentions to participate in a short walk in Boston. It’s a fundraiser, and I intended to go in
with a couple of friends and meet a couple more while I’m there.
Unfortunately, we have all
been hit with the Grippe, a plague-like disease that strikes without warning
then hangs around for as long as it damn well pleases.
One friend has been
battling this thing longer than I have, and she suffers a setback Thursday that
knocks her flat on her ass and requires Z-Pack antibiotics to get her
functioning again. My second friend
works with two families both hit with the stomach flu, which means, of course,
that she gets the stomach flu.
I am in pneumonia recovery
mode (or so I hope), yet continue to have long bouts of non-productive coughing
fits. Last night while sleeping, I woke
up twice with my back frozen and wrenched into place. My back still isn’t right, and leaning over
feels like I’m carving disks out of my spine with a dull sickle blade.
As I suck down liquid gel
tablets of Naproxen and set up the pillows to simulate a hospital bed so maybe
I can roll out of it when necessary, I have to wonder: Driving to the T
station, walking to the subway tracks, sitting on a rickety train car, walking
some more to change trains, being on rickety train #2, milling around Boston
Common, doing the actual walk, then repeating the process in reverse – Is this
going to be the sanest idea I’ve had all week?
Lord knows it would be the
most fun I’ve had in a while. Fun, that
is, if I could convince myself that I wouldn’t throw out my back again through
all of this. Or hack up a lung. Or develop another inexplicable but
relatively hefty (102+ degrees) fever.
Let’s get two things
straight:
#1 – I HATE being
sick. HATE. My family hates it. My neighbors hate it. My coworkers hate it. I am like the Masque of Red Death because
wherever I go at work, people move far away and avoid eye contact hoping to
ward off pestilence and disease.
#2 – I LOVE walking. LOVE.
Although the treadmill bores the crap out of me, I enjoy walking
outside, crisscrossing my route over and over again and exploring new areas
within a three-mile radius from my house.
Right now, judging from
the wait for the meds to kick in, I doubt I’ll be in walking form tomorrow, or,
at least, not in riding the T/walking form.
We shall see how I feel when the dawn breaks (and my back doesn’t).
