I totally forgot to mention the newest project on my calendar. I received a call from Waikem Honda. It seems that they have been having a little bit of stealing going on and they would like to have just a couple of small webcams installed so these two areas can be monitored. (I think they called the "right guy" for this job. LOL) I stopped by early on Valentine's Day and spoke with Dave Waikem (who would be on vacation and out of my way for most the week) and we discussed exactly what they thought they needed, and what I suggested they get. I'm really anxoius for this quick and easy project.

At this time, this project has been put on hold indefinitely. If you continue reading, you'll understand the reason.

I'm sure that you are all anxious for a health-update about me after mentioning that I got sick on Valentines (well, actually the day after; but 3am still seemed like Valentine's night ). Things haven't been very good at all. Since I wasn't having any breathing problems, or any other symptoms, I knew I didn't have pneumonia (oops! I've thought that before and ended up in the hospital though). I did go online and check out all the symptoms and treatments for fevers though, and was pleased to see that I was responding correctly to my condition and that it might take a day or two to recover.

However, Tues. through Thurs. my temperature continued to bounce between 98 and 103 degrees for periods at a time. When Thurs. rolled around, I made the decision that if I was no better on Friday, I would go to the ER. But I didn't get to keep those plans. By late Thurs. evening my temp was starting to spike up over 104.5 and didn't seem to want to come back down. At 10pm, Jim and I decided that it would be best to go on in to the hospital. As bad as I was feeling by then, I sure knew that it couldn't hurt.

Of course, I would finally choose to go to the hospital during a sudden snowstorm! At least the cold outside helped cool down my fever some on the way to the hospital. The ER wasn't very busy, so they got to me rather quickly. They took some chest x-rays, a pee specimen, 8 vials of blood, and 4 of what can only be described best as "mini coke bottles" of blood. All the staff was nice and quick, and in about three hours, they had some preliminary results and had contacted my doctor. The good news: no pneumonia! (and thank goodness too. I had already been crying for hours, sure that pneumonia would be the culprit and that I would be staying for several days) The bad news: there's a bug going around that really produces nothing but a high fever that can last for 3 to 5 days. So they sent me home with instructions (Tylenol, cold compresses, lukewarm baths) and told me to follow-up with my doctor, since a few of the cultures would take 24 hrs.

Before I go on, I really need to tell y'all what a great guy Jim has been through all this. He's been over early every evening after work and he's cooked, cleaned, cared for the dogs, and made sure I was properly medicated. The day after the hospital visit, he went to the grocery and got me all sorts of great frozen fruit things, and juices, and ice cream. He also been staying here nearly every night too. Up and down with me at all hours, trying to keep this fever under control.

For years, my reason for not returning to NC after Randy died, was that I didn't want to return and end up a burden on my Mom, sick and possibly dying. I didn't date any in the last decade for basically the same reason. I know what a chore it is to care for someone seriously ill and I didn't want to do that to someone. However, what do I do? Finally call Jim my boyfriend and then get sick like this. But I sure am glad he's here. I'm so weak, tired and exhausted from this, that without his help, I'm sure that me and the dogs would have just gone hungry a couple of nights. God, I didn't want to do this to anyone, but I know that I couldn't have gotten this far through it without Jim's love and help.

As this weekend started, I was actually feeling better more than I was feeling bad. Most of the problems I was having stemmed from just having that high of a fever, chills, sweats, cramps, and the violent shivering. Unfortunately as Sat night wore down and Jim was close to leaving me, so he could stay at his own house for a night, my fever suddenly spiked back up to over 104.3 and I took to barfing. Of course, Jim stayed over once again, making sure I kept taking enough Tylenol and pressing cold compresses on me.

This routine has continued through the weekend and into the next week. By Wednesday, with my fever still spiking every 6 to 16 hrs. and the barfing continuing, my doctor had me come into his office. There still seems to be no real problems that are showing up in my blood work and he's unable to example why this fever hasn't quit after 10 days now. Of course, there's another batch of blood work being worked on, while Jim and I are learning ways to control the bouts of fever. Now I'm setting the alarm clock and waking up every few hours at night to take my temp, dose with Tylenol and, if the fever is up, do the cold compress, fluids, and lukewarm bath routine.

Some pictures of me living in my "new bedroom" - the living room. With this fever, and my barfing, it was too much trouble sleeping upstairs in my heated waterbed. The kids really enjoy having me home, and like it a lot when I'm feeling good enough to play some too.

I really don't know how long this is going to continue; but let me assure you that this has been the most miserable two weeks of my life ever. I'm trapped at home pretty much - first, because of actually feeling crappy, and secondly, so that I'm not exposed and any other germs floating around out there. (This one is quite enough for the time being, thank you LOL.) All my friends really miss me, but thanks to the internet, they keep an eye on the webcam and we all chat on Yahoo. With any luck, February will end soon, and this fever will go too and I'll be able to celebrate my 43rd birthday by feeling a heck of a lot better.