Let me start off by stating that June has not been a fantastic month. Oh, it had potential to be pretty great, but it started off crappy and hasn't really gotten much better. This is not an excuse for why I've been so absent from this blog- and well, writing in general, it's just simply a fact.
The first Monday of this craptastic month, I started my morning off with a tumble down the stairs. Surprisingly enough, in all my clumsiness I have never fallen all the way down stairs before (I usually tend to trip going UP them). Thankfully, this tumble was no big deal, really. I scraped up my right knee and pulled my shin muscle pretty good, but no broken bones or anything. I even made it to Pilates for the first time in months that evening, although I did have a hard time doing some of the moves due to my sore leg.
That same week, I woke up on Tuesday with a very swollen nose. I thought perhaps I had a lovely zit a-brewing in there, because yes, I am 36 years old and still cursed with the occasional volcanic pimple from time to time in weird places. I messed around with it a bit, probably more than I should, and by the end of the day it swelled up even more and hurt when just the wind would hit my face. No exaggeration. It was like someone was continually punching me, over and over, right in the nose. The pain was unreal. On Wednesday morning, I took myself to the ER because the pain, if possible, was even worse. I had googled my symptoms and found out that it sounded like cellulitis, which is basically a bacterial infection of the skin. It can be caused by a cut, ingrown hair, etc- any minor injury will allow staph in and hence, the infection. Long story short, after arguing with the ER doctor that no, this could not possibly be an allergic reaction to something, I was prescribed an antibiotic and sent on my way. Nothing for the pain, which was still getting worse by the minute.
The next day I had my allergy shots, and I'm lucky that there's an ENT on staff there at all times. My allergist took one look at me and knew what I had (even though an ER doctor seemed basically clueless) and had the ENT look me over. He prescribed some other antibiotics and a cream and told me to stop taking the other antibiotic the ER had prescribed.
Nothing for the pain, though. Terrific. I was eating ibuprofen like M&Ms. I was a mess that night- the infection caused me to feel flu-like and achy on top of everything else. I wanted to rip my face off my head.
Oh yea, and we were leaving for Chicago the next day, did I mention that? A highly anticipated trip, a weekend of fun and sight-seeing and shopping, drinks and good food...and I was miserable. Somehow I rallied and still managed to have a good time, but if I had been home, you can be damn sure I would not have shown my face to the public the whole weekend.
I'm still not better, either. This infection has eaten away cartilage in my nose and it's still swollen inside. I'm afraid when and if it ever does go down I will be left with a lopsided, caved-in nose. Because, you know, I'm not already self-conscious enough about my nose.
Then this past weekend lightning struck again. My mom called me with the sad news on Sunday that our good friend, her old co-worker Joanne, had passed away. Joanne was a wonderful, funny, kind, super sweet lady whose laugh you could hear from a mile away. She was there for me through one of the darkest parts of my life, assuring me that things would get better and I'd feel whole again one day. She was the one who encouraged me to start writing again, that she "saw" me writing books for kids. Joanne called herself a "feeler"- she could just sense certain things about people. She had a sort of pyschic ability, you see, and let me tell you, she was right about a LOT of stuff. She's one of the main reasons I finished writing not one, not two, but three books. And now, for her, I am going to do my damnedest to get the third one out there and make something come of it. I will make sure that her prediction comes true, somehow, someway.
June can suck it. I'm glad it's over after next week.
