I already knew it was a good idea to live in the moment, but today was an excellent lesson in the necessity of doing it. But before I explain why--let me offer the best moment of the past week: seeing the cover design for Facing Fear. (I was going to include the image in this post, but what I have is an Adobe Acrobat pdf, which apparently doesn't work on blogspot. Ah well--this is part of living in the moment! Instead, here's a photo of me, taken at Olbrich Park in Madison this past summer by my friend Bonnie Weisel after we biked to see the butterflies. No, there are no butterflies in this photo.)
So now-- about today. My plan for the day was to go to the gym for my strength-training class in the morning, then come home and work at my desk until I went down to the county clerk's office to be deputized as a voter registrar. But then late yesterday afternoon I spiked a fever that seemed all too reminiscent of the pneumonia I had in late July. So I scrapped the gym plan, called the clinic, and ended up going there at 3:30. Where I learned that I do indeed have pneumonia again. I managed to avoid hospitalization because there are still two oral antibiotics to which I am not allergic, but between the clinic visit and the trip to the pharmacy, I also managed to miss the 5 PM deputization.
Well, no matter. The reason I was going to get deputized today at the county clerk's office was that I had planned to go to a dragon boat festival and race in Oshkosh on Saturday, which was when someone comes to the Obama headquarters to deputize registrars. But with the pneumonia--which does make breathing a bit problematic--I'm not going to be racing on Saturday. So I just stopped at the Obama hq en route to the pharmacy and signed up to be deputized on Saturday.
Other plans for the week are similarly affected. I have to see the doctor for a follow-up appointment on Wednesday at 1 PM, so I can't introduce the domestic violence survivors who will be reading their work at a fundraising luncheon that noon. I probably won't go to dragon boat practice Wednesday evening. On the other hand, I might finish the two excellent books I'm reading, Beijing Coma by Ma Jian (a novel) and Anti-Cancer, recommended by Fred B in his comment on last week's blog post. And maybe I'll also watch some more episodes of the first season of The West Wing. As I learned this summer, pneumonia's an excellent excuse for lying around, doing only what one wants to!
In fact, my next task of the evening is to place an order with the Willy St. Coop so that they will deliver some groceries tomorrow. A real luxury!
By the way--when the picture above was taken, I was only a few weeks past my last bout of pneumonia. I know my immune system is strong: Dr. Holen complimented me on my white cell count two weeks ago. And best of all, one of the two antibiotics is my favorite color, rose, and matches both the turtleneck and the fleece I am wearing today. So I figure it's just a matter of time before I'm in the pink of health, as they say.
1 comment:
Judith, I caught your blog today on one or my infrequent checks of Clearing friends' websites. I'm sad and worried about your pneumonia news (probably more so than you are). But when you mentioned the dragon boat races, I had to write that we just had a chance to see them in Portland, OR, where we were attending a photographic conference. Both Phil and I got lots of pictures we could share if you like. In any case you're often in my thoughts, and I look forward to next year at The Clearing with you and Robin.
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