STEROIDS - PART 2

Steroids - Part 1

1:15 a.m.  Well, I tried, but sleep is a no go.  I wake up coughing, but it’s less severe than it has been.  I am also soaked in sweat, but how can this be?  It’s 40 degrees out, I’ve got the window wide open, the ceiling fan on low, and another small fan pointed right at me.  I’m having flashbacks to menopause.  I throw off my blankets and look over at Paul who’s wrapped up in three heavy blankets like a mummy.  I take one of many trips to the bathroom then try to go back to sleep.

2:30 a.m.  Still wide awake.  I’m sweating again.  Another trip to the bathroom.  I want to watch TV because that usually puts me to sleep, but where’s the bloody remote?  Our cat, Flash (a.k.a. Flashish, Woo-Woo Kitty), curls up next to me.  She’s like a heat-seeking missile and finds the torrent of heat emanating from my body to her liking.

3:45 a.m.  Still awake.  One of the neighborhood skunks has decided to forage in our backyard and his aroma is wafting through the open window.  Is my sense of smell heightened too?  Paul’s still mummified and snoring away.  I hate him right now.

4:30 a.m.  I actually fall asleep for awhile, but wake up again coughing and soaked in sweat.  Could somebody please shoot me?

10:00 a.m.  After a few minor coughing spells and constantly pulling blankets off then pulling them back on, I managed to finally get some sleep.  I get up, make myself some oatmeal, and swallow my six tablets.

*****

While battling this cold, I have struggled to complete my assignments for the two classes I’m taking at Harvard Extension School this semester:

Blogging and The Vampire in Literature and Film.  It’s hard to be creative when you feel so rotten, but somehow I managed to write my blogs.  In my Vampire class, we have to read a novel a week, which means I’ve got my nose planted in a book at all times.

So far I've read Sheridan LeFanu's Carmilla, John Polidori's The Vampyre, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Laurell K. Hamilton’s Guilty Pleasures.  The books are fascinating, and reading about the undead seems very apropos under the circumstances.


Next on the reading list is Lord of the Dead by Tom Holland.  This should be an interesting exercise, considering that the Prednisone has altered my vision.

Steroids - Part 3