Out with the Flu

Sunday I once again did my hike up the old Manitou Incline late in the afternoon. I took a few more pictures since it looks different with snow on it. I wasn’t feeling so good before I went but I figured I was imagining it since Julie and Danielle were sick. My legs felt a bit weak. Sometimes they’re a little tired and sore from doing a long ride the day before but this was different. I was also slower and the new snow wouldn’t have caused me to be that much slower. Soon after I got home I started getting chills and aches.

This was one of the times I really enjoyed the whirlpool tub I put in last winter. I’m an engineer and I find most things to be over hyped and not nearly as good as the marketing says they are. There’s a really good reason I don’t work in marketing. I’d describe things as “this works OK but it really would be better if it were like …”. The whirlpool tub is an exception. It has been even better than I had imagined. It is so great to come in after a long ride and soak for a bit. Oh, of course they could have shaped it a little better to fit me. I had been wanting one for a long time but the master bedroom and bath were the only 2 rooms we weren’t redoing in the house we bought in 2000. We’ve been gutting and remodeling a third at a time and the 2004-2005 winter was the last third. Our bathroom had an over sized shower in it that was slightly bigger than a standard tub. It always had a dark line on the floor that looked almost like a crack but we could never tell for sure. One day during last winter’s big project, I was taking a shower and stepped just right to see different movement on each side of the crack. The ceiling was already ripped open underneath and the wall behind it was gutted on the other side. So all that had to be done was totally knock out the wall since that was the only way to get the tub in. Well there was moving plumbing around and making it fit, etc. I finally put the tile in over the two weekends after Thanksgiving this year.

Monday and Tuesday I didn’t feel too bad as long as I took Tylenol so I worked. Tuesday afternoon Julie called and said Danielle had a really high very and wouldn’t eat or drink so she was taking her in to the doctor. I meet her there to help take care of Cassidy who was sick too but never got so bad. The doctor wanted her in the hospital on IV. She tested positive for the flu. She got to come home today and is pretty much acting her wild self again. We didn’t give her a flu shot because she’s allergic to eggs.

My work brings nurses in each fall for free flu shots. I haven’t been getting them because over 10 years ago when I was still in college I had a bad experience. I’m not sure what I was thinking but I got the flu shot the day before a cyclocross race in Denver at Chatfield Reservoir. I felt alright the next morning and drove to the race. Once I got through the entrance station I really had to pee and stopped at the first restroom I came to. I felt a little weak when I got out of the truck and went in. The next thing I remember I thought I was in bed and just couldn’t wake up. I finally got my eyes open expecting to be in my bedroom. Instead I was staying at block walls. It took me a few minutes to figure out where I was. I had fallen straight over backwards onto the concrete floor and I think got a concussion from it. I don’t think I was out more than a few minutes. I drove the mile or 2 to the race. The whole race was a fog but somehow I managed to finish 7th in the Open class. Fortunately there was a couple there from the Springs and they both raced. She had asked be how I was doing before the race so I had told her I had passed out. Her husband was in my race and she came to check on me after my race. I was lying in the back of my truck not knowing what to do. She got her husband to drive my truck home so I wouldn’t be a danger on the road.

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