Sick

Perfect attendance is one of my proudest achievements. I have never missed a day of school, ever. Not even in Kindergarten. Perfect attendance, however, is also sometimes one of my least favorite things in the entire world. I went to bed on Sunday not feeling very well. I was sick to my stomach and exhausted from work. That night, I barely slept. I was feverish, sick to my stomach, and constantly suppressing the urge to throw up. I ended up having to soak a towel with cold water and just lay it over my face. I got about an hour or two of sleep, total. The rest was rolling, groaning, and general discomfort.

Then it was time to get up and go to school! Since I was already up essentially, I got up really early, about 5:00. I took a shower and realized about 20 seconds into my shower that I really had to throw up. So I did. Gross. BUT! I did feel a lot better, even though the experience was overall quite unpleasant. After my shower I stumbled into some clothes and downstairs. I’m absolutely freezing, so I’m wearing a thick fleece and trying to survive. I drank a cup of orange juice and ate a banana because it just seems like those are the types of foods you’re supposed to eat when you’re sick. Then I took my temp. 101.5ºF. School was going to SUCK! I left the house early so that I could go to the store and buy Pepto-Bismal in an attempt to keep my stomach subdued. I went to the counter to pay and the lady looked at me and said “You don’t look healthy.” No, really? I went into my wallet to get money to pay for the Pepto, and of course, the smallest bill I had was a hundred. Lovely. So, at 6:00 in the morning, I spent a $100 bill on a $5 bottle of Pepto, and pretty much wiped out the cashier’s startup. School was going to SUCK!I drove to school and went inside. I sat down at the table in the commons and collapsed. Fever and upset stomach. Gross. I then went to first period, CAD, where I went to the back of the class and tried to sleep on the cold concrete floor. Not comfortable, but it didn’t involve moving, so it was nice.

Next period wasn’t quite as nice. Band. I sat there with my clarinet in my lap trying not to throw up the whole time. No playing, just absolute concentration and absolute misery. Next was lunch, where I took my temperature again. 102ºF. Lovely. By the way, all this is made better by the fact that I had to go to work after school until 7:30 for DeFib training.

Next period was my online class, so I took a nap the whole period. I fell asleep using my backpack as a pillow, but when I woke up I realized I’d fallen asleep with the side of my face on a zipper. My face hurt. Lovely.

Next period was CAD again, and more napping, but I was too uncomfortable to sleep very long and ended up just laying on the counter in the back of the class groaning. Eventually, with about thirty minutes left in the day the teacher came up to me and said “Michael, go home.” “Ok.”

So, I got to work. I walked into the room where the training was and my boss looked at me. “Go home.” “Ok”

So, I got home at 2:30 pm. I went immediately to bed and fell asleep.

I woke up at 5:45 the next morning. 15:15 minutes of sleep. It was wonderful. I don’t feel great today, but my fever is better and tums are keeping my stomach under control. My advice to anybody without perfect attendance is to avoid school at all costs if you have a fever. My advice to people with perfect attendance? Buck up, it sucks but it’s something you’ve gotta do if you want to keep the streak.