May 16, 2004

• Fever and Pain

  I haven't felt well the last few days. It built to a peak yesterday when everything in my body hurt. When I coughed, it felt as if the top of my head was coming off. My face felt flushed, so I measured my temperature. The thermometer indicated a temperature of 102.4 degrees which, for me, is very high. My temperature normally tends to be a little bit low.

  I had no appetite but managed to make and consume some soup for my lunch. In the evening, as things got worse, Cathy made me some more soup, half of which I could finish.

  I went to bed early. At about 3:20 in the morning I woke with the symptoms of extremely low blood sugar. I needed to consume some sugar. But I was suffering nausia. If I wasn't extremely careful, that would progress to vomiting which, on my empty stomach, would result in dry heaves, which I hate. It took me half an hour to make the short trip from the bedroom to the kitchen and another twenty minutes to eat two crackers, which was all I could tolerate. I have glucose tablets in the dining room, but it would have taken me another half hour to turn on the dining room light and enter the part of the dining room where I keep the tablets.

  I suspect that the effort required to wake Cathy to get her to help me would have sent me into dry heaves immediately. It wasn't worth the risk.

  I slept a total of about twelve hours and woke exhausted, in pain, with my fever down to 99.7 degrees. The thumb, index finger, middle finger and ring finger of my right hand are numb, which makes typing difficult. My fasting blood sugar was up to 177.

  I called Delia, as I try to do each Sunday when she is in Panama. Her reaction, quite predictable, was that I should immediately go see a doctor. But it was probably my recent trip to the doctor that gave me the problem. Hospitals and doctors' offices are distribution centers for disease.

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