Breathing Deeply: My Life With Cystic Fibrosis

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.

--Kurt Vonnegut

The last week has been absolutely filled with activity. I have no idea where the time went. My scientific mind tells me that most of it must have been lost as heat. A week ago I was settling into my new office at work, and today I'm here at home fighting a case of the flu. It's weird how things can change so quickly. I never cease to be confounded by how susceptible my body is to stress--both the exciting, fun form and the frustrating, infuriating variety.

Brad and I attended back to back to back to back Christmas events with little time for a break in between. We had a great time hanging out and celebrating with each of our families, and it gave me a great opportunity to try out the new digital camera. Today's picture was taken at Brad's grandparents' home, where we partied with his mom's side of the family.

For the last few days I have been more than just exhausted, despite the fabulous doctor's appointment I had last Wednesday. I think I've managed to catch the common cold with a twist of the average flu. This is rare for me. I never get run-of-the-mill normal person sick. It started with a sore throat and post-nasal drip. By last night it had escalated into a low-grade fever and some digestive pyrotechnics. The funny thing is, because I'm rarely feeling 100% anyway, I don't feel particularly lousy right now. Just run down.

Last night as I Brad and I were settling into a NyQuil induced slumber, (he was sick too but is in much better shape today), I was lying there thinking to myself how awesome our marriage is. Yesterday was a perfect example of honoring our commitment to each other in sickness and in health. Because we were both sick, we were both pretty out of it. In spite of that, whenever one of us would get up to stagger to the kitchen for a glass of water or reach for a tissue, we'd ask if there was anything we could do to make the other person feel better. I was amazed at how much love I felt for my husband, and how loved I felt by him even though we were never within 3 feet of each other, and didn't share anything physical except to pass the box of tissues back and forth.

This must be love. Or a fever. Doesn't matter. I'm happy.

***
Current mood: tired but happy
Current snack: kudos bar
Emotional weather: calm, clear skies
Health-o-meter: No CF issues, just a flu