6- Not quite a Foreigner song.

I've been pretty sick lately- a cough, runny nose, the usual, run-of-the-mill winter ailment that seems to go around every January- not quite the flu, but definitely not the picture of health I usually am. Well, a few years ago, I had was in a similar situation, and I was very sick, and suddenly felt much worse. My hands, lips and feet were swollen. I called Jen, who called her mother, who said "get some Benadryl in him right now."

After a trip to the local drug store, she came over, and fed me drugs. We went to bed, and at some point, I got up in the middle of the night, took three steps towards my bedroom door, and passed out, falling right on my nose. It was at that point that I took more Benadryl. In the morning, I called in sick and called my doctor, who said I had had an allergic reaction- obviously nothing life-threatening, but he was concerned enough to prescribe an Epi-Pen to me, and made me carry it with me where ever I did go.

This morning, my alarm went off, and knowing that I really just wanted sleep, I hit the snooze bar more than a couple times, and finally got up around 7:30. I noticed rather quickly that I felt a little funky. I got up, and noticed my feet felt heavy. I looked down, and they were slightly swollen. I looked at my hands, and they were also swollen. I bit my lip, and I couldn't feel it.

Around about this point, I thought to myself "shit."

I've been trying all morning to contact my doctor's office, which has prooved exceedingly difficult. Finally, I discovered that they aren't even open until 10:30, which isn't all that helpful anyways, as I also found they aren't just around the corner from my house, but in fact several miles away. Suddenly, I'm feeling my choice to go with an HMO instead of a PPO in order to save money on surgery I will need to have soon might be in error.

Not to worry, though, loyal readers. Your hero has called in sick to work and is currently feeling the euphoria that only Benadryl seems to provide, and waiting for the clock to strike 10:30, so he can hopefully set an appointment with his new doctor. Oh, and no heavy equipment will be operated by said hero for a while.