5:58 am Phone rang to notify me of a 2 hour school delay so I went back to sleep
8:00 am. Got up to get ready for a school shift. I will need to be there by 10:10 instead of 8:10 am. Fed the 2 dogs and 3 kitties then got breakfast for myself: farm egg from a friend with chickens and half a sesame seed bagels with coffee. I have always preferred to buy eggs from chickens I have met just to help me reduce the level of animal exploitation in my personal consumer habits. (I am not vegetarian, though.) Due to avian influenza and mass culling at many of our nation’s factory farms, the grocery store egg prices have been a big recent complaint. My friend’s farm eggs have been the same price for years, $3.
8:30 am. Wasted time on the Internet and reading bad news about this awful new administration. Wondered if I will commit suicide or assault before these 4 years are up. It all feels so hopeless. This is Valentine’s Day and I work as an aide in a school, so I found red to wear. My belly felt uncomfortable, but not nausea.
10:04 a.m. Clocked in at school and went to my classroom. My mood felt unusually flat and wondered if it was just depression about this administration that seems hell-bent on full dictatorship. I am usually very chipper at work as our students perk me up like a shot of adrenaline. But my mood stayed low as the kids trickled in.
11:00 a.m. Normal, uneventful day and it was my lunch break, but I had to force myself to to eat as I had no appetite. There were many sweets in the teacher’s lounge and I went to get some to take home. I can usually eat 4 cookies straight up, but they weren’t at all tempting.
2:00 p.m. The day was uneventful so far, ut I felt like I needed to go home due to my tummy issues. I escort a kid to general ed science and did not want to change that student’s schedule on a test day, so I stuck it out another period.
2:50 p.m. I texted my principal and teacher to.let them know I needed to go home early as I was feeling remarkably worse. Was able to leave at 3 rather than my normal 3:40pm.
3:15 p.m. By the time I got home from school I felt feverish, but needed to let my dogs out. I cleaned up the yard waste and the frigid 30 degree air felt refreshing. I then fed them early and took my temp. 99.5. I also took an extra GERD tablet for the severe reflux.
4 p.m. I had all the pet duties done and was able to relax. Put my comfy clothes sweatsuit on and went to bed to catch up with sister messages on FB.
5 p.m. Stomach bloating pain is worse and 101.5 temp. No appetite, skipping dinner.
6 p.m. Found a documentary to watch on Netflix about a Black man who served several decades in prison for (not) killing a police officer.
6:30 p.m. My friend texted to ask what time she could drop her dog off on Sunday morning for pet sitting, but I warned her that I am ill with fever and some weird belly thing and I that would let her know Saturday night if I felt better.
Aside from my school aide job, I also am a home caregiver on the Indiana Medicaid Waiver system. I joined the union years ago. My Dad was always pro-union when I was growing up, so I have long recognized how they advocate for employees rather than CEOs.
I am supposed to have a Zoom meeting at 10 am tomorrow with my Union, but I will not tune in if I feel gross at that time. I am also set up to join my local union members this coming Wednesday for lobbying at the Indy Statehouse. We are trying to advocate to keep Medicaid coverage for the clients we serve or risk losing our jobs. Hopefully, I feel well enough to do that. I feel completely paralyzed by the tidal wave of changes this administration is pushing into the nation in a very short period of time. Maybe lobbying in person with legislators will be more useful if they meet us face to face??
6:45 p.m. One of my sisters texted that she dropped off a Flu A test for me to see if I have an atypical case. I have been surrounded by kids and adults with Flu A for several weeks straight. The test was negative.
7 p.m. Fell asleep
(After midnight things got pretty grody and I will spare those details. )