Residuals

I'm fine.

No, really.

Last night when I went to bed, I had a lot -- and I mean a lot -- of trouble sleeping. The sinus pain was maddening; it would not go away, it would not lessen or fade. It was just there. And I couldn't do anything about it. I'd taken all of the meds I could. I'd probably drank a gallon of water throughout the day to help thin and loosen any and all mucus in my head and face. Nothing was making anything feel better at all. I was exhausted, but I couldn't sleep because of the pain, which not only felt like it was spreading, but moving back into my ears. That was bad. Very bad. Once I get it in my ears, it's all over -- immediate antibiotics required, no ifs, ands or buts.

I sat up the bed to where I was propped up somewhat -- on three pillows -- under my neck and head. My logic was that if I slept on my back with my head propped up at an angle, everything would drain downward, out of my head and ears, and down my throat in the night. It's helped me before when I've had a sinus infection -- it's about the only thing that does work. The problem is that I don't sleep on my back. It's really difficult for me to do so. I am a stomach and/or stomach/side sleeper. Any other position isn't comfortable. When it came to last night, I was so exhausted and in so much pain that no position was going to be comfortable anyway.

It took a good hour of laying there and staying as still as possible in pain before I started to doze off. Sleeping in pain is not fun. I had to get up twice during the night to pee -- probably because of all of the water I'd been drinking -- and each time the pain was a little lessened, so I knew I was doing something right.

At some point I awoke and the pain was gone, so I rolled over onto my right side and assumed my normal sleeping position. The sinus infection was on the left side, so laying on my right would allow it to drain out of there and, hopefully, out of everything. Eventually, I did sleep some peaceful sleep.

When I awoke this morning -- a mere six or seven hours after going to bed -- I was once more on my back. I had the presence of mind not to sleep on my bad side, even if it was the most comfortable way to sleep, and...I was okay. No pain. My throat ached from what had drained down it in the night, and my nasal passages were once more stuffy (a sign of my allergies coming back to normal) but no sinus pressure/pain. I had heartburn, but getting a stomachful of mucus in the overnight hours will do that to a person, I suppose. I got up, swigged some DayQuil to keep that shit on its way out, and took two more Mucinex sinus pills.

I've been okay all day. There's some residual pressure and congestion in my sinuses and in my ears, but nothing outside the usual. The vast majority of it drained in the night and has stayed gone. My teeth, face, and jaw no longer hurt in the least. I think I'm all right, crisis averted and all that. I'll still take some decongestants throughout the day to push it the rest of the way out, but as of right now I'm fine. Feelin' normal.

I'm still exhausted. I didn't sleep well at all, and that shit knocked me out of commission all day yesterday, so I'm behind on my grading schedule and haven't gotten anything done yet. I desperately need some relaxation and recuperation time, time to sleep normally, heal up, and rest up. I have a long week ahead of me next week, a week full of travel and family stuff, as well as engagement photography and who knows what else -- and I had a day of my downtime cut short because of sickness.

Better get going.