Story 3: Wherein I face the music, get a doctor, lose the headache, cry a bit, and yet still no damn drip.

I am incredibly irresponsible when it comes to my own personal health, which explains why I'm frantically calling around looking for a GP to take my sad self to. I have a chiro appointment at 2:30, so I need a doctor after that and then I should have some answers. But first, I field answers all morning about what happened to my face. If I have to hear one more "what's the other guy look like" or "Forget to keep your elbows up?" I might *remember* to keep my elbows up as I duck, weave, and use a nice right hook to show you how I'm feeling. I have to admit, tho, that it was heartening to have 40 guys all either imply or outright tell me that if somebody did that to me, they'd take care of him, they just needed a name. Seriously. There were a few who took some serious convincing...which is nice, because I know that I have basically 40 brothers who will beat the hell out of anybody who treats me poorly. It's a nice feeling, you know?! My friends are a little more pacific; these guys box for fun and compare black eyes at the office.

For you who are familiar with black eyes, mine was looking pretty spectacular; it was still lumpy but the colors were fantastic. My eye could have been a reference for some makeup artist. It was hideous, and that plus the throbbing head that took seven long and painful seconds to subside...I hated all the well-wishers. Luckily, I found a doc who'd take me and off I went to the chiro. I love the guy--he's a sports therapist and chiropractor to the Hawks, so he's no stranger to the odder injuries. I had the full battery of tests and X-rays, and then cried inside when I was adjusted. I knew it would help, but I didn't want anything touching me because it all hurt. My back hurt, my joints ached, my eyes ached, and my head was trying to explode whenever I had a coughing fit. Luckily, the adjustment took care of about 70% of the head pain and I could focus on all my other woes.

**Listen up, you who are wary of chiropractic medicine. Don't knock it until you try it. Your spine is the most important part of your body; if you don't take care of it, you're screwed. Find a chiropractor, a good one who listens to you and doesn't make you to buy 19 supplements, a pillow, and some copper bracelets. A good chiro will change your life. Go. Shoo. Find one. Trust me. There might be some pain in the beginning, but it's worth it.**

My sister has been nagging me to get to the doc asap, and kept filling my head with horror stories regarding meningitis. Since I had a lot of the symptoms, and she'd had it a few years ago where it developed into encephalitis (sweet god, that was scary. I love you Lulu!), I worked myself into a lather of fear and loathing. Luckily, by the time I saw the doc she could allay my fears* and tell me it's just a virus, and there's nothing to do except push fluids and sleep it off.

I asked for a morphine drip.

I'm not kidding. I was desperate at this point, and being told that I could have some Tylenol/IB and Gatorade wasn't going to cut it. I did get some Aleve and Gatorade, some ice cream and some food staples on the way home; it was going to be a long and lonely 3-day weekend. That's ok, since I looked so great with the black eye and everything. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the virus erupted on my lower lip, effectively looking like I had a split lip and black eye. Yeah, I was a total battered woman with the "I ran into a door" excuse to boot. I fired up the 5 disc changer with the Red Curtain Trilogy and had a nice quiet evening with myself, my fever, my cough, and my black eye.

It was rather crowded on the couch.

Friday was a day of rest, interspersed with calls from the office. There is some truly awful television on during the daytime. How do people watch that crap? And, more importantly, why was *I* watching it?!

*She says the most important symptom is light sensitivity, so just keep that in mind when self-diagnosing something that requires a spinal tap to diagnose.

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