Bluuuuuurgh

I was supposed to go to the lab this morning to have blood drawn, as I promised Wendy last night I would finally do so. I need to figure out if my constant hot flashes are a symptom of early menopause or perhaps a sign that I am developing a superpower, which would be the ability to combust at will if the temperature around me fluctuates by more than one degree Fahrenheit.

Instead I woke up at 7 with a sore, scratchy throat and clogged right ear. NOT GOOD. My body can only handle so much stress before it freaks out and expresses itself through sickness, and almost always those sicknesses are sore throats, terrible colds, phlegmatic coughs, and inflamed sinuses. (Sometimes all of the above!) Given that Michael is still in the hospital, plus last week was the anniversary of Martha's death, and work is a horrible thorn in my side, and Romeo's birthday is coming up this week, and Ken is not only moving away, but was in the hospital yesterday and likely will have to have a pacemaker installed very soon...I AM VERY STRESSED OUT.

I was due to get sick. I only hope I can get well quickly, but I kinda feel the sore throat migrating down into my lungs. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

I can't really take anything for a cold like this unless I go to the doctor and she prescribes antibiotics, but I'm holding off on that until tomorrow (only if I feel worse). So for today, I've settled for Robitussin and Nyquil.

I actually took the Robitussin in the middle of the day, despite its clearly marked label that reads NIGHTTIME alongside a picture of a crescent moon and three stars. Because my body is semi-impervious to sleep-inducing agents*, it took about two hours for the ginormous swig I drank to take effect, right in the middle of a game of Eight Letters in Search of a Word (they really need an editor for that title, seriously) which resulted in me trying to lose and somehow not being able to do so until I closed my eyes in the middle of a round. I felt like one of those angry bears being shot by tranquilizers that finally falls out of a tree and into someone's kiddie pool.

Oh, I did actually go get blood drawn, and it was quick and fairly painless. (For me at least, though not for the little boy who screamed in terror throughout his blood draw, begging for mercy, and then weepily told his mother afterwards, "I just want to go home please.") I ate like a giant seacow afterwards but this must be excused because I hadn't eaten anything all day and it was already three and plus isn't it feed a cold, starve a fever, or is that the other way around?

And now I've taken some Nyquil and would like to go to sleep but probably won't be tired for hours.

* Isn't it odd that someone who loves sleep as much as me has a body that fights off soporifics? I believe that's ironic, Alanis.