I started out with something minor, just a dry cough that lasted for almost two weeks. I still have it here and there but it's pretty much almost gone by now. It was really bad when I was in NY unfortunately, but thankfully the real sickness didn't hit until after I got back.

It's kind of crazy, the timing of when I got sick. I had a performance at the Cultural Center this past Monday and it went amazingly well. It wasn't until that night that I started to get really sick. On Tuesday morning, I woke up feeling extremely cold. I figured it was because my covers are not thick at all. So I actually threw on my extremely warm set of covers that I never used ever since I got into college. I also had lots of stomach aches that started actually the night before. I was supposed to get up for class at 9:30 AM, and I knew I had to go because I had a paper to turn in... but I just couldn't get out of bed. I was so miserably cold, and I had some bad body aches going on. 

After a while, I told myself I was going to get work done especially since I decided not to go to class. But after eating breakfast and not feeling good about eating that, I decided that I was going to go back to bed. At this point I was still in denial about being sick. I had Pedagogy class at 1 PM that I was supposed to go to (since it's only once a week and participation is important) since I had more homework to turn in. But I was feeling so horrible that I couldn't even make it to that.

I finally got some Dayquil pills from my roommate and slept even through studio class. I officially missed all of my classes for the day. By the time I got back up around 4:30 PM, I was feeling a lot better. The body aches were almost gone and I felt a lot lighter. I couldn't believe that I had been in bed for 16 hours before finally starting my day. By then, I had enough energy to go to work, attend my worship team meeting and have a rehearsal. I finally got back home by 11 PM that night. 

And then hell began. I had to start AND finish my 7-8 page paper for my English class by the next day at 10 AM. The one time I decided to procrastinate was probably not the smartest time to do so. By that hour of the night, the medicine was wearing off and I could feel my body start to deteriorate by the minute. I got about 3-4 pages done and decided to reward myself by getting a bit of sleep. That night I got about 4 hours of sleep before I had to wake up to finish my paper. 30 minutes before the deadline, I got in 6 pages, and by then I called it quits. It was only a first draft, so why was I even bother trying so hard? I submitted it and then crashed for another hour before having to go to my English class at 11 AM. 

I still wasn't feeling well, but I knew that I had to go to class because today was going to be all about peer reviewing. I also missed three consecutive English classes because of NY and my Cultural Center recital and I just had a feeling that she would be very annoyed with me if I missed another one. My stomach was acting up again in class and I just wanted to leave so badly. I couldn't believe I had survived.

Afterwards, I don't know why I agreed to do this, but I had to play for someone's voice lesson for half an hour. My stomach was in so much pain. After that, I went to CVS to buy some Pepto Bismol to help alleviate the pain. I took some and then tried to take a nap. 

I hadn't slept very much when I realized I was doing something very terrible. I was scratching a LOT, everywhere. Everywhere just felt so itchy! And then my ears especially got itchy, and at one point, my ears became so burning hot. I was worried because I knew this couldn't be normal. I threw off the covers and dashed to the bathroom and realized I had red bumps all over my body. 

....what. 

I'm pretty sure it couldn't be the chicken pox, since I got that vaccinated as a child. So what exactly is this?! My entire stomach and back was completely red, and my arms and legs were beginning turn that color as well. My ears were bright red and my face was beginning to be covered in small, red bumps. I was getting so paranoid and freaked out that I called my parents. I hardly ask my parents for help since I can usually find help faster by other means. I felt so helpless at that point, and my parents told me to go to the university's health center or nearby hospital. She assumed it to be food poisoning, since I described her the constant stomach pains I had been having since Monday night. 

After a bit of hesitation, I finally called the Searle Health Center and told me to drop by ASAP. So I had to walk all the way there, feeling horribly itchy and with a painful stomachache, and finally got it checked out. I was given Zyrtex and Benadryl to help alleviate the itchiness, even though they would cause drowsiness. I also was given a special prescription after they diagnosed the sickness. I'm still taking these medicines to this day... I feel like such a druggie. haha.

I was told to take the medicine right away. Again, thanks to great timing, Wednesdays were one of the only days in the week that I do not work, and even though I had Pedagogy again, I could care less about going to class at that point. I had a completely free evening, and so I spent it all on sleeping. by 6 PM, I became super, super drowsy, but oh man, my body felt so good. All the itchiness went away so quickly and I was so amazed by the power of medicine.

I woke up around 8:30 PM because I got hungry. I asked my roommate to buy bananas for me because I had been put under a strict diet. No fruits or vegetables (except for bananas), no fried foods, no spicy foods. I can only eat rice, fish, cooked turkey/chicken, hard-boiled eggs, chicken broth, and just a few more. I actually lost quite some weight.. about 7 pounds, for not eating a lot and because of the diet. I have never dropped that much weight in such a little period of time... it was almost scary haha.

After the banana, I decided that I was going back to sleep. I was still so drowsy even when I was awake. I fell in a deep sleep again and didn't wake up until 1 AM. By then I was wide awake and couldn't go back to sleep. It took me two hours, but I was finally able to go back to sleep (after taking a second round of medicine). 

Thursday was the first day I was finally alive and got lots of stuff accomplished. I started my day at 8:30 AM, and I was completely booked until 9:30 PM. Class, coachings, piano lesson, work, rehearsals, watching three recitals, and I even ran across campus (for a legitimate reason). I think I'm crazy.

By Friday, the red bumps had lessened but some were still there. I haven't felt the need itch since Wednesday though, so that's some progress. My stomach also stopped sending me sharp pains. My stomach only felt queasy here and there and felt weak from not getting to eat enough food on a daily basis. 

Saturday, today, was probably the most insane day for me while still being sick. I ran a 5k in 24:09 minutes (which is four seconds behind my personal record from high school four years ago... wow), performed in a chamber recital, worked for three hours, and now I'm here. About to pass out from exhaustion. I still can't believe I actually ran a 5k perfectly knowing that my stomach was not completely ready to handle such a strenuous activity as that. I almost died by the time I got to the finish line, but after seeing how fast I ran it, I was really, really proud of myself. And I'm also really, really crazy. But I guess that's just who I am.

Above all, I just am so thankful that my God takes care of me so well. This was probably the most perfect time to be sick. It wasn't during NY, or during my Cultural Center performance, and I got better in time for the race and chamber recital. Besides the paper, I had absolutely no other homework. I'm so thankful for everyone's prayers and thoughtfulness throughout this week. I'm thankful that it wasn't anything too serious. I am just so thankful that I am finally feeling alive. As much as a I love sleeping.... I think there really is such thing as too much.

I started out with something minor, just a dry cough that lasted for almost two weeks. I still have it here and there but it's pretty much almost gone by now. It was really bad when I was in NY unfortunately, but thankfully the real sickness didn't hit until after I got back.

It's kind of crazy, the timing of when I got sick. I had a performance at the Cultural Center this past Monday and it went amazingly well. It wasn't until that night that I started to get really sick. On Tuesday morning, I woke up feeling extremely cold. I figured it was because my covers are not thick at all. So I actually threw on my extremely warm set of covers that I never used ever since I got into college. I also had lots of stomach aches that started actually the night before. I was supposed to get up for class at 9:30 AM, and I knew I had to go because I had a paper to turn in... but I just couldn't get out of bed. I was so miserably cold, and I had some bad body aches going on. 

After a while, I told myself I was going to get work done especially since I decided not to go to class. But after eating breakfast and not feeling good about eating that, I decided that I was going to go back to bed. At this point I was still in denial about being sick. I had Pedagogy class at 1 PM that I was supposed to go to (since it's only once a week and participation is important) since I had more homework to turn in. But I was feeling so horrible that I couldn't even make it to that.

I finally got some Dayquil pills from my roommate and slept even through studio class. I officially missed all of my classes for the day. By the time I got back up around 4:30 PM, I was feeling a lot better. The body aches were almost gone and I felt a lot lighter. I couldn't believe that I had been in bed for 16 hours before finally starting my day. By then, I had enough energy to go to work, attend my worship team meeting and have a rehearsal. I finally got back home by 11 PM that night. 

And then hell began. I had to start AND finish my 7-8 page paper for my English class by the next day at 10 AM. The one time I decided to procrastinate was probably not the smartest time to do so. By that hour of the night, the medicine was wearing off and I could feel my body start to deteriorate by the minute. I got about 3-4 pages done and decided to reward myself by getting a bit of sleep. That night I got about 4 hours of sleep before I had to wake up to finish my paper. 30 minutes before the deadline, I got in 6 pages, and by then I called it quits. It was only a first draft, so why was I even bother trying so hard? I submitted it and then crashed for another hour before having to go to my English class at 11 AM. 

I still wasn't feeling well, but I knew that I had to go to class because today was going to be all about peer reviewing. I also missed three consecutive English classes because of NY and my Cultural Center recital and I just had a feeling that she would be very annoyed with me if I missed another one. My stomach was acting up again in class and I just wanted to leave so badly. I couldn't believe I had survived.

Afterwards, I don't know why I agreed to do this, but I had to play for someone's voice lesson for half an hour. My stomach was in so much pain. After that, I went to CVS to buy some Pepto Bismol to help alleviate the pain. I took some and then tried to take a nap. 

I hadn't slept very much when I realized I was doing something very terrible. I was scratching a LOT, everywhere. Everywhere just felt so itchy! And then my ears especially got itchy, and at one point, my ears became so burning hot. I was worried because I knew this couldn't be normal. I threw off the covers and dashed to the bathroom and realized I had red bumps all over my body. 

....what. 

I'm pretty sure it couldn't be the chicken pox, since I got that vaccinated as a child. So what exactly is this?! My entire stomach and back was completely red, and my arms and legs were beginning turn that color as well. My ears were bright red and my face was beginning to be covered in small, red bumps. I was getting so paranoid and freaked out that I called my parents. I hardly ask my parents for help since I can usually find help faster by other means. I felt so helpless at that point, and my parents told me to go to the university's health center or nearby hospital. She assumed it to be food poisoning, since I described her the constant stomach pains I had been having since Monday night. 

After a bit of hesitation, I finally called the Searle Health Center and told me to drop by ASAP. So I had to walk all the way there, feeling horribly itchy and with a painful stomachache, and finally got it checked out. I was given Zyrtex and Benadryl to help alleviate the itchiness, even though they would cause drowsiness. I also was given a special prescription after they diagnosed the sickness. I'm still taking these medicines to this day... I feel like such a druggie. haha.

I was told to take the medicine right away. Again, thanks to great timing, Wednesdays were one of the only days in the week that I do not work, and even though I had Pedagogy again, I could care less about going to class at that point. I had a completely free evening, and so I spent it all on sleeping. by 6 PM, I became super, super drowsy, but oh man, my body felt so good. All the itchiness went away so quickly and I was so amazed by the power of medicine.

I woke up around 8:30 PM because I got hungry. I asked my roommate to buy bananas for me because I had been put under a strict diet. No fruits or vegetables (except for bananas), no fried foods, no spicy foods. I can only eat rice, fish, cooked turkey/chicken, hard-boiled eggs, chicken broth, and just a few more. I actually lost quite some weight.. about 7 pounds, for not eating a lot and because of the diet. I have never dropped that much weight in such a little period of time... it was almost scary haha.

After the banana, I decided that I was going back to sleep. I was still so drowsy even when I was awake. I fell in a deep sleep again and didn't wake up until 1 AM. By then I was wide awake and couldn't go back to sleep. It took me two hours, but I was finally able to go back to sleep (after taking a second round of medicine). 

Thursday was the first day I was finally alive and got lots of stuff accomplished. I started my day at 8:30 AM, and I was completely booked until 9:30 PM. Class, coachings, piano lesson, work, rehearsals, watching three recitals, and I even ran across campus (for a legitimate reason). I think I'm crazy.

By Friday, the red bumps had lessened but some were still there. I haven't felt the need itch since Wednesday though, so that's some progress. My stomach also stopped sending me sharp pains. My stomach only felt queasy here and there and felt weak from not getting to eat enough food on a daily basis. 

Saturday, today, was probably the most insane day for me while still being sick. I ran a 5k in 24:09 minutes (which is four seconds behind my personal record from high school four years ago... wow), performed in a chamber recital, worked for three hours, and now I'm here. About to pass out from exhaustion. I still can't believe I actually ran a 5k perfectly knowing that my stomach was not completely ready to handle such a strenuous activity as that. I almost died by the time I got to the finish line, but after seeing how fast I ran it, I was really, really proud of myself. And I'm also really, really crazy. But I guess that's just who I am.

Above all, I just am so thankful that my God takes care of me so well. This was probably the most perfect time to be sick. It wasn't during NY, or during my Cultural Center performance, and I got better in time for the race and chamber recital. Besides the paper, I had absolutely no other homework. I'm so thankful for everyone's prayers and thoughtfulness throughout this week. I'm thankful that it wasn't anything too serious. I am just so thankful that I am finally feeling alive. As much as a I love sleeping.... I think there really is such thing as too much.