Day 53...Monday Oct. 5th

I tried going back to work again on Monday. As soon as I woke up, I knew it was going to be a rough day. My head was pounding and my sinuses had so much pressure, I could hardly see straight. As soon as I got to work, my boss could see I wasn't doing well. She actually asked if I wanted to go home right in the beginning. But, of course, I had to be stubborn and insist that I try staying the full day. The other trouble was, my lead teacher was also there sick, so I didn't want to leave her there to handle the class without my help.

The morning was very difficult. It was another madhouse day in our classroom. We did all we could to control the situation, but a handful of rowdy boys in our class took over. There was little we could do. We eventually had to call in extra help from my lead's mentor and she was able to help a bit. But honestly, even with all of the madness going on around me, I paid it little attention. My head was pounding so badly and the pressure in my sinuses had become so intense that I could hardly think of anything else. Every time I squatted down to talk to a child and then stood back up, the whole room would spin. By the end of my lunch time, my right ear had completely blocked up and began to cause extreme pain. It started to radiate down my jaw and into my neck, tensing up the whole left side of my face. Since I only had a couple hours left, I figured I could push past the pain long enough to get home and get some medicine. But come the end of the work day, I was is a lot of pain and I could feel fluid moving around in my ear but nothing was coming out. I called my husband and told him I better get to the doctor as soon as possible.

Right after work we went to the nearest walk-in clinic. It was luckily a brief wait before they got me in, but for the short time I was there, the pain in my ear had increased ten fold! The doctor confirmed it, it was an ear infection. They gave me some antibiotics, pain meds, and some ear drops. As soon as we got home, I took the pain meds as soon as I could. I wasn't going to wait another minute with that pain. And yet, even with the pain meds, my head was still throbbing in pain. But I was at least able to get some sleep. Needless to say, I called in and scheduled to stay home from work the following day. Pain meds and antibiotics while working with kids...not a good idea.

Thanks to the pain meds my thoughts, my awareness, and my ability to articulate have all been Pickled.