Last week knocked me out flat cold.
I could feel something was going awry when I woke up Monday with a scratch in my throat. Considering that I hadn’t been sick for over a year, I ignored it and pushed through work and the gym and the dog park and the socializing and everything I’ve managed to jam pack into my life these days. Who has time to be sick? Not me.
Tuesday was more of the same – that scratch in my throat became a little more prominent and I managed to keep it down with ibuprofen despite feeling and seeing the swelling in my neck that surely indicated something wasn’t right. I had too many things to do! I needed to work out and clean my house and host a party over the holiday weekend! Sick did not fit my schedule.
On Wednesday, the ibuprofen started to fail and I kept ignoring my symptoms thinking that eventually it was going to have to pass, right? By the time I got home and was getting ready to go to the gym, something in my brain kicked in and said, “maybe take the night off since you’re not feeling so great.” I did. I late cancelled my reservation for the 5:30pm class at Solcana. I took my pup to the dog park and went to bed about 9pm – something I basically NEVER do.
I woke up Thursday in pretty serious throat pain – the worst it had been all week. After doing some internet research on “when to go to the doctor for throat pain” I decided it was probably a good idea to go in to the clinic, and emailed my boss to let him know I was doing so. Afterall, I was hosting an early 4th of July gathering in 24 hours AND I COULD NOT BE SICK. OR IF I WAS SICK I NEEDED ANTIBIOTICS TO KICK IN. Either way, something had to change. At the clinic, I was negative on the quick strep test and told it was nothing more than a virus. Okay. I could live with that. I can live through a virus and still make taco dip and celebrate America in my backyard, no problem!
Friday things didn’t improve and I was alternating doses (per direction of my doc) naproxen and acetominophen for the throat pain. I skipped the gym again, but you better believe I still made the taco dip. I still bought the brats, the burgers, the beers, and cut the grass. I still got the grill ready and managed to even vacuum my house in anticipation of the 40 pals that were about to come over and celebrate summer. I had a smile on my face and I was really excited to have everyone over, and I did a heck of a job masking my sickness. People asked me why I wasn’t eating or why the bag of Luden’s throat lozenges was sitting conspicuously next to the plate of grilled meats and I told them casually “Oh, I just have this throat thing” as I downplayed the pain I was dealing with every time I grimaced when swallowing. I even made it to the movies that night, because, HELLO! I SUFFER FROM FOMO (fear of missing out) and, let’s face it: the thought of drinking a giant ICEE seemed like the best thing I could do for my throat, ever.
I could feel things take a turn for the worse during the movie, and I think part of that was the adrenaline of entertaining wearing off. The pain worsened. The swelling reared. My voice was even more muffled. I consulted with my friends and decided to take a trip to the ER (hey, I’m not a drama queen it was just midnight and Urgent Care was closed!) to get another strep test and/or pain meds to help me sleep. I wasn’ t going to be able to sleep if I couldn’t breathe or swallow, right? How could I get better without sleep?
Strep test once again came back negative but the kind doc was nice enough to give me a prescription for Percocet, which I had filled immediately at the hospital pharmacy. Sleep was close. I could feel it. I popped a couple of those when I got home and drifted off to sleep, only to be awoken by the sweet, sweet buzz of my mobile phone about 9am Saturday morning. I recognized the number as the clinic I had visited Saturday and returned the call. “Are you feeling any better, Jennifer?” they asked me. I managed to garble out something that sounded like, “NO….ME WORSE” only to have the doc tell me that my throat culture came back positive for strep throat – a strain that the quick test does not test for. THANK YOU FINALLY I WAS GOING TO GET ANTIBIOTICS! I drove immediately to Target to pick up my glorious prescription and spent the next couple of days cooped up in bed while everyone celebrated America’s birthday. I didn’t even care about what I was missing. I just wanted to feel better.
After 48 hours on antibiotics, I managed to make it back to the gym last night for my first workout in 6 days. It felt like I had been gone for eternity, you guys. I started to lift heavy on the back squats and then downgraded I listened to my body telling me “NOPE THIS IS A BAD IDEA.” I pushed myself through strep throat all last week, I didn’t want to continue to do so while I was on the mend, too. Listening to your body is so much of the battle. It’s like trusting your gut: you know you should but you don’t always do it, and you end up regretting it when you don’t. That’s why I also opted out of the metcon yesterday. I could feel myself getting a little woozy from all of the movement and I knew it would not end well if I would have attempted the workout:
As many reps as possible in 8 minutes of:
60 Single Unders
15 Ring Rows
60 Single Unders
15 Hanging knee raises
Nope. Considering my Level 1 Certification Course this upcoming weekend, I couldn’t bring myself to risk not being in tip top shape for my training and testing, so I sat out. I’ll ease back into it today and it will be fine. I’m not gonna beat myself up about it, either.
I listened to my body. I let it rest. And now it’s time to jump back in again.