Uninvited Guests

There's a party going on inside my body. And not one guest was invited by me!

It started last Friday when I noticed some pin-prickling sensations in my throat. Those prickles quickly turned into pain when those nasty little rhinoviruses invited their friends, the picornaviruses and the coronaviruses, to pop on over.

The party then really kicked off. Those little buggers danced around in the cavernous recesses of my pharynx until, by Monday, I wasn't even able to utter a sound. Even my "cries" of pain were silent. And the acetaminophen, the Cepacol lozenges, and hot tea couldn't ease the agony.

On Tuesday, those irritating rhinos, picornas, and coronas decided to move the party up into the nasal passages. On the way, they must have dropped all their liquid refreshment because for three days now it's all been oozing out my nasal cavities. Then they decided to spread the party out into my respiratory organs. There are so many of those little buggers crammed into my lungs that nothing is moving...the cough medecine my doctor recommended tries to attack these invaders and sometimes there's a sound like a whip cracking as I try to evict them.

I love this comment from Wikipedia: Within a few days, the body's humoral immune response begins producing specific antibodies that can prevent the virus from infecting cells.

"Humoral?" That sounds like the body thinks parties of this type are funny! Trust me, this is NOT funny! I've had to cancel all my tutoring work this week!

Today is Thursday and I feel like I've been run over by a truck! I hurt all over, have no voice (and for me, that is a great problem), am plugged up and have to breathe through my mouth causing my lips to chap, am coughing like a chain smoker, and can't eat or sleep.

I do not like this kind of party. It's time for everyone to go home!

... or else I'll have to join in by making myself a rusty nail.