July 2, 2008

Bugs

Somebody decided it was time to turn nature's thermostat up.

It's hot here in Northern Utah. With the heat come the bugs. I have a mild allergy to mosquitos, meaning if one nails me I don't just get a little bump, instead I get a large welt and do my best to not itch until I bleed.

My lawn also appears to have an allergy to bugs. Specifically the eat the grass at the dirt line bugs. It looks like hell! I thought the grass was just in shock from the sudden heat, but turns out I was just in denial (the mindset, not the river) and the grubs made a snack of it. My neighbors hate me. Probably for reasons other than the lawn though.

My final buggy battle is with illness. That's right, the Duckboy household is sick. Wifey and Smarty Pants have been battling the snotty hacks for the last two weeks. Smarty seems to be kicking it finally, while wifey is still hanging on to hers. I think secretly she enjoys waking me up at night with her booming cough, which is why I sneak down to the couch.

But now I have it, too.

You would think that being a little bit healthier than the average mouth-breather that I could avoid most of these illnesses. Nope. It's worse actually for healthy people. Most people get sick like this:

1) Wake up one morning and feel like shit.
2) Feel terrible for a few days.
3) Get better. Total sick time: about 10 days.

This is how I get sick:

1) Feel great, but...
2) Feel a little off the next couple of days.
3) Feel a little more off for a couple more days.
4) Fianlly realize something is wrong. Hope it doesn't take. Feel like this for a couple of days.
5) Get frigging way-layed with disease. My immune system was nothing more than a little Alamo fighting a losing battle. Coincidentally, it takes about the same amount of time for my immune system to fall as the Alamo.
6) Disease COMPLETELY takes over for two more weeks. Raids the fridge, grabs Wifey's butt, drinks beer all day and lays around.
7) Disease finally drinks all the beer in the house, gets bored, pukes on the floor and leaves.
8) Rebuild immune system.
9) Slow and arduous recovery.
10) Get better. Total sick days: 25 - 30

We are off to Bear Lake for some recreatin'. I'll be leaving the bikes home and taking my wetsuit (low 60s water temps - brrrr) to see how bad I can scare the jeebers out of myself in the water, last year I did a pretty bangin' job of it. I'll toss in the running shoes also. And the golf clubs. Should be fun for all involved. I can't wait to get Smarty into the pool again.

Have a great 4th holiday. Try not to burn or blow your faces or appendages off.

1 comment:

Jumper 2.0 said...

If you frequently get sick, you have to consider the possibility that you are not getting enough protein.

I'm not saying you aren't, just that it's a possibility.

Also, I'm a neuro critical care nurse. And one thing that we do to prevent pneumonia that is caused in the hospital for people on the ventilator is mouth care at least every 4 hours with a special cleanser proven to decrease bacteria in the mouth. How is it different than listerine? I don't know! But I was thinking about how we mouth breath when running etc and have made it a habit to listerine up right before any exercise. Can't prove that it works scientifically, but it seems to be working for me.