Inside the Huddle: Sending Thanksgiving Love {and germs} Your Way

Good thing germs can't be transmitted keyboard to keyboard. Because if they could be, you'd probably be receiving this wretched unknown illness from my couch to yours. Ever since Sunday morning, I have been running high fever on and off and it feels like there is a razor slicing the back of my throat every time I swallow. And I have a swollen lymph node in my neck, so all of that is proving to be a real blast around here. Our apartment got so messy it even bothered Thomas, which is could only be an act of God. I went to the doctor yesterday and he said "hmmm, it could be a virus, it could be the flu, it could be strep, we'll do a strep test." Ten minutes later he came back and said "doesn't look like strep, you can go home!" I sat there with my mouth hanging open, wondering if he was joking. Surely he could tell I was on the verge of death. But I gathered my belongings and drove myself home in the mullet truck and commenced lounging miserably on the couch.

Last night I made Thomas sleep on the pull-out in the living room because I was terrified he would get my awful disease. After all, his body is his livelihood! This morning I woke up and the fever came and went based on my Ibuprofen intake. Around 3pm, I'd had enough of the misery. I called the doctor. No answer. I called 3 more times. Still no answer. I left a message that went something like this: "Hi, my name is Margaret Austin and I was in yesterday with a high fever, sore throat and swollen lymph node. This is the third day of my fever and I simply can't do this for a 4th day. A friend and I are cooking for 12 people on Thanksgiving Day, and I have to get better. So can you please call in an antibiotic of some sort? Please?" A few minutes later a nurse returned my phone call {finally!} and I swear she was chuckling on the other end. But I don't care, because I got an antibiotic and I WILL be well by tomorrow. Or else....I guess I will just keep watching old Marilyn Monroe movies and drinking G2 alternated with water under the watchful eye of my sweet husband.

But wait, there's more. I most likely brought this sickness upon myself. Or at least made it worse than it had to be. I woke up Sunday morning with a low grade fever. But my brother-in-law was in town for the Pats/Colts game, and I simply didn't have time to be sick. I wasn't going to miss church in order to rest for the game, and I wasn't going to miss the game. So I decided to do what any hardheaded person like myself would do, and went to church AND the game. The best part of this is, the temperature at the game was a lovely 27 degrees. Fahrenheit. I honestly didn't feel that bad after church, but about halfway through our tailgating experience I began to be miserably cold. I thought "wow, I must be a class A wimp. I better stick this out to become a real New Englander." By halftime I was wearing Thomas' massive team issued down jacket, and he was wearing his flimsy fleece. But I was still shivering uncontrollably. By the 4th quarter I was close to tears and Thomas insisted we listen to the rest of the game in the car. By the time we got to the car I was having a major meltdown and feeling like a serious New England loser for not being able to sit through an entire game. By the time we got home, my fever was 101. something. And there it has remained on and off every few hours for the past 2 days. But now I have an antibiotic, and antibiotics solve everything, right?

Here are a few fun photos from the game, pre-Margaret meltdown: