Waking Up Sick

Waking Up Sick

Every sniffle and cough is the same:

“Is this it?

Have I caught it

Should I isolate?”

But until now,

Symptoms didn’t quite match

Today was different

My foible is

An over sensitive nose

Driving my guts to distraction

With the faintest hum

Of anything

Overripe or rotten

I tried to pour the milk

It wouldn’t move

Then slid,

Churningly slow

In lumps towards my tea

An ice cold avalanche of slow despair

How did I not smell that?!?

I tentatively sniff again

And only the barest echo

Of dairy destruction graces

My olfactory cavern

My cramping stomach

My aching bones

My fatigue

I could ignore

But this… this is new

A poker-hot stab of fear

Grinding its way

Into my guts.

But what can you do?

Site clicked, form filled, test booked.

Back to bed and away from the kids.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.