Feeling Under the Weather

If you’re a regular visitor you may have noticed how few times I’ve managed to post this month. It’s because I’ve been feeling “Under the Weather,” both figuratively and literally, most of the month.

As if all the Trumpery wasn’t depressing enough, I managed to contract a serious cold/flu/virus/sinus infection that was bad enough that I actually went to the doctor for Prednisone and Antibiotics after I failed to improve after five miserable days. The Prednisone definitely offered some relief but the antibiotics apparently did nothing except upset my stomach for a week and a half. I still managed to get to the gym half the time or take a half hour walk, but other days I did little more than get up and take a shower. The last couple of weeks have definitely been better and I haven’t had to take pain medication or antihistamines, but I haven’t felt up to doing very much. I managed to recover just enough to get the colonoscopy that I’ve been putting off for over a year. Ironic that I should have to fast for a day just as I was feeling better. The results of the colonoscopy were positive, though, and I continue to improve slowly. I suppose I could feel sorry for myself, but I prefer to see it as a reminder of how lucky I am to feel as good as I do most of the time.

If the illness wasn’t bad enough, I’ve only managed to get out birding three times in the last month because of the constant rain. Most of the days were heavily overcast and the pictures I did manage to take were so uninspiring that I didn’t even bother to download them to my computer. March has continued the wet winter we’ve endured here in the Pacific Northwest, one of the wettest winters on record. I’m pretty sure that if I hadn’t felt so bad that I would have loaded up the camper and headed south for a week or so. I had planned on getting to Arizona during the Mariner’s spring training, but I wasn’t up to driving so those plans never materialized.

So what do you do when you’re too sick to go out in the rain and take pictures of birds that aren’t there? If you’re me, you turn on the Windows side of your computer and replay Dragon Age: Inquisition, a game that takes so long to complete that I’ve never managed to complete it before turning back toward the light and rediscovering reality. This time, though, just glancing at the constant requests for money to fight Trumpery and reading 45’s Tweets have made living in that imaginary world far preferable to Reality. I’m not sure that even completely recovering from this sinus infection will make me want to return to that Reality.

As I struggle to return to normal, I’ve started unsubscribing from many of my liberal feeds firmly believing it’s too early in the election cycle to fixate on things I can’t change. I’ve renewed my lapsed membership in the ACLU, renewed my membership in the Sierra Club and The Environmental Defense Fund, and will renew several other memberships as they come due. I am too habituated to reading the news to totally ignore it, but I don’t want to obsess on things I can’t control.

I’m sure the political stress I was feeling played a part in my catching the flu/cold/virus that I contracted and made it harder to overcome it. Life is too short and time is too precious to waste it worrying about things I can’t control rather focusing on the natural beauty that inspires me.

9 thoughts on “Feeling Under the Weather”

  1. I’ve been wondering where you’ve been and so sorry to hear that you’ve been so sick. The weather has been a true nightmare all along the northern Pacific coast. I think our rainfall is nearly double the normal amount. We did have to take a trip south to Ventura County to see my mom, and I have to say 80 degrees and sunny skies have never felt so good. I am starting to understand why “snowbirds” head south for winter. So glad you are feeling well enough to post again. Take care there, and hope the weather and your health improve enough to get out there for some good photography. And, yes to the ACLU, the Environmental Defense Fund, and Sierra Club.

  2. Hope you’re back on all cylinders soon. Amen to you last sentence! Hope that this bizarre nightmare is over soon. The light seems to be dawning.

  3. Get well soon Loren. .

    For some Nature therapy for sinus. .

    Crush a few segments of garlic , a piece of ginger a few cloves and some coriander seeds . Add these to boiling drinking water. Let it sit for a while before you drink half a glass or more first thing in the morning. This water can be taken anytime you wish . Repeat every morning for good result.

    2. A teaspoon of tumeric powder stirred in a glass of warm milk before sleep is another remedy to alleviate cold and flu. It is better to use whole tumeric pieces crushed , as the purity of the packeted spices are doubtful.

    3. A piece of ginger crushed mixed with honey taken at intervals can soothe the sinus .

    Cheers 😊

    1. Perhaps I should have posted this earlier. I’ll try some of these and put them in Notes for later reference.

  4. What a coincidence, I was just thinking yesterday that you hadn’t posted much lately. Reading this blog entry is like reading the same thing I would have written if I had a blog! I suspect that many more have felt this same malais here in Western Wa. these past few months.

    Take it nice and slow.. Looking forward to future posts and pix.

  5. I wondered why it was easy to beat you at scrabble, now I know and I sense a recovery. Here in South Africa we have our own share of political madness and corruption.

  6. There’s a strain of flu going around that manages to bypass the vaccine and hit people really hard. I had it a month ago, and am still not fully recovered. You have my sympathy.

    I’ve kind of taken the same route as you politically. I can’t control the big picture, so I control what I can: I renewed my membership in the Xerces Society (an environmental group devoted to invertebrate protection)and a local Alzheimer’s charity.

    I carry around this quote by Sister Chan Kong for inspiration, and I hope it helps you, too: “If we just worry about the big picture, we are powerless. So my secret is to right away do whatever little work I can do. I try to give joy to one person in the morning, and remove the suffering of one person in the afternoon. If you and your friends do not despise small work, a million people will remove a lot of suffering.”

    1. That sounds a lot like what is going around here, too. I’ve known several older people who are usually quite healthy who have ended up with pneumonia.

  7. Loren, so sorry you’ve had a bad patch. I agree that the political news has increased our stress and created an atmosphere condusive to illness; it has felt that way to me too and I’ve had to make some changes — my blood pressure was going up. Good for you on the environmental action, and I’m glad you’re able to get out again and take pictures of our beautiful world.

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