Weird Sick Day

Today I was halfway to work when a wave of nausea swept over me and I realized I was sweating heavily. Seriously heavily. I wiped my face and head with a paper napkin, and it was instantly drenched. The nausea got worse, and I seriously considered pulling over to throw up.

I got to work and the feelings abated a little, though not entirely. I asked the building secretary if she had any extra subs available that day, and she said she did. I told her how I was feeling and that I wasn't sure I'd make it through the day. She nodded and told me to hit her up if I needed to go home.

I was getting a little worried. What was this? I'd recently changed around some of my medications. Was this a symptom? Was it food poisoning? I haven't had illness-related nausea in years and years.

In my classroom, the nausea returned at full force, and I felt . . . wrong. Not achy or feverish. Just wrong. I decided I'd better go home. I called the secretary, and she sent up a substitute. I threw together some lesson plans and announced to my first hour what was going on.

"Oh!" said one student. "That's the nine-hour bug."

I blinked. "I haven't heard of this one."

Another student chimed in. "Yeah, lots of people are getting sick. Nausea, sweating. But only for about nine hours."

Other students were nodding in agreement.

"I'm glad you brought this up," I replied. "I was worried something was seriously wrong!"

I went home to a startled Darwin and slept all morning, and then slept a good chunk of the afternoon. The weather had turned unseasonably warm (low seventies), and I wanted to go on a ride, the first of the season, but I didn't have the energy, so I read on the balcony.

I'm feeling rather better now. The nausea is gone, but I still feel dragged out.

It was a weird sick day.

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