On the Road to Better Again | pastpilot's Blog

After turning 24 years old I stopped getting sick on a regular basis.  In the past, like clockwork, every January, February or March of each year I would get the flu or a viral illness of some sort that would put me into bed for 5 to 8 days with a high fever.  These illnesses remind me of the movie, "Trainspotting".  I would be in a haze of delusions, covered in sweat, having weird dreams, odd thoughts, and would find myself in different worlds.  In some ways I started to look forward to these bouts of illness because they were like being on vacation from reality.  Then, after I turned 24, getting sick suddenly became a rare event, and 30 years later, I average one illness every 3 to 8 years.  No more colds, runny noses, fevers, etc during these long stretches.  Physical injures seemed to have taken over from bacterial and viral infections.

This year, 2013, I found myself sick again.  The last time I was sick was February, 2010, and before that, I was sick in February 2002.  The illnesses are usually the same: headache with a constant fever, loss of hearing, sweating, and not much else, but at least they came with the usual fun, weird dreams.  My doctor figured I suffered from inner ear infections, but they never involve the pain I would have associated with an inner ear infection.  The latest fever I had went on for 8 straight days and then, this morning, its mostly gone, although since I didn't really eat anything for 8 days, I am left feeling dehydrated, hungry and fatigued, but at least I am still functioning.

While I was sick I managed to solve a problem I had with a new product I have been developing over last three years.  I couldn't produce the product until all the problems associated with its manufacturing had been solved and there were a few problems to figure out.  Since I had the time, being sick in my bed with a fever, starring at the ceiling, I was in a fairly good position to put about 8 hours a day into solving these annoying problems.  I came up with a few novel solutions that will surely annoy my competitors and quite possibly make this product one of my better selling products.  I keep getting emails from customers all over the world asking for this product, but there were those nasty production difficulties to iron out first.  I just needed the time and the focus, both of which I had over the last 8 days, to work it all out.  Who says being sick and stuck in bed has to be a bad thing?  This is one reason why I enjoy being sick, although there are three down sides:  1) I never know when I will be sick, 2) I have to contend with delirium (trying to stay focused on reality when your fever is pulling you into a fantasy state of mind is distracting), and  3) Having customers constantly ask "Where is my order?" can be distressing by itself.  Being sick will often put a wrench into a person's time table.

I am still not feeling 100% better yet, but once I am eating regularly again, and able to drink fluids again at ease, I should be OK, but I shall miss the weird dreams.  I will have to wait until I am sick again, back on vacation.  One weird dream I found to be quite amusing occurred a day ago.  In the dream I was being interviewed by a young woman in a white lab coat who was asking me various questions.  As she left the interview room she stated to me, "When I get back, we will be talking about ants who were never ants" (unless she meant Aunts?).  Fever induced dreams can be very amusing.