Went to the dentist for a cleaning on Wed., came home with a crown. Well, part of a crown, the real crown is being made, what’s sitting on my whittled down tooth is a cap. The whole thing was very scary, what with the drilling and grinding away of what was once my bicuspid. The poor little guy was rittled with fillings, and the metal was starting to cause a whole lot of sensitivity, and I was unable to chew my favorite cereal, Kashi clusters, on that side. I had put off getting a crown for 8 months and when the dentist said, “Well, you need to do it, how about now?” I realized he was right, might as well get it over with. This is the same dentist, btw, I never found a new one due to the limited choices I have within my dental insurance network. I figure, get the crown done and then move on to someone else. After all, he’s not so bad, the dental hygienists are the problem. While I was having concrete poured into my mouth one hygienist was snipping to the other about how the receptionist makes a lot of money per hour despite not ‘really doing anything but filing, phone calls, and billing.’ I was half tempted to ask her to shut-up but instead started asking all sorts of distracting questions and redirecting her attention to me. She took her revenge by making me a cap that is way too short and looks like a gimpy baby tooth in my mouth.

The next day after cleaning out our attic, I took our cat to the vet. It had been long overdue and I took her to a fancy place in Seward Park. It’s the kind of place that offers coffee in the waiting room and acupuncture for animals. Despite the fanciness we were largely unimpressed at the handling of our cat. They were not expert or fast when giving her shots. Instead of removing her to draw blood they did the whole messy thing in front of us. I learned that my cat has little veins, making it very difficult for them to insert a needle. All of these vet techs were very young, tattooed, and pierced. One girl with purple hair actually gave up finding a vein and found another tech, one with pink hair, to do the job. The whole time Hobbes yowled and cried as she was pinned to the table; I almost cried myself. We learned that Hobbes has a broken tooth, which has caused a low-grade infection in her mouth. She appears fine, is still eating (too much they mentioned), but is probably pretty uncomfortable. She needs to have her teeth cleaned and several infected teeth removed. This will cost between $550-600. Because we were unimpressed with how she was handled I called around and found a vet hospital in Renton that is cheaper–and it’s 20% off pet dental month!

Thursday night my lungs hurt and I started declining rapidly. After a rough night of body aches, coughing, and snot I awoke with a fever at 5:30 am. I started making phone calls. I called the dance studio where I have a 9am class and canceled-regrettably, it’s always tough doing that to a studio with no sub. I had to also cancel an interview for another teaching gig at the Jewish center on Mercer Island. No Thalia performance for me that night. I also had to arrange a sub for a rather high paying teaching gig on Saturday night–thanks SAM–and settled into one of the worst illnesses I’ve had in a while.

After learning I had cleaned out the attic, my sister-in-law suggested I might have Hantavirus. This is a rare deadly virus one can get from rat droppings. Always one to be susceptible to neurosis, I suddenly became worried that I had contracted this horrible respiratory condition and was going to die in a few days. We found a tiny doctor’s office in Renton that was open on a Saturday, a rough around the edges sort of place with cracked chairs and no lids on their urine sample jars. They took our insurance, though, and I was in bad shape. The doctor spoke with a thick accent as he tested me for influenza, sticking a long piece of plastic up my nose and into my sinuses. It was terribly uncomfortable and I responded by kicking my feet around and flailing on the bed. It felt like he was poking part of my brain and when I closed my eyes I saw yellow.

It turns out I have Type A Influenza. This concludes my experiment “Don’t Get A Flu Shot This Year And See What Happens.” I didn’t get one because I hate how sick I feel for 48 hours afterward. Beside, I’m pretty hearty, I figured I would be fine. Turns out, I really, really should have gotten one because then I would have likely avoided this. I’ve been totally incapacitated, unable to sit up for long periods of time, shivering one minute and in a cold sweat the next, plagued by headaches, the works. I’m in the difficult position of having to cancel or find subs for tomorrow’s classes. This always generates ill-feelings from education directors…and I’m not looking forward to this task.

Update: This is the first time in about six consecutive years where I opted against a flu shot. I started getting them in college and consistently got them when I started teaching dance in 01′. Despite the shots, I had still fallen ill with ear infections, viruses, strep throat, etc. so I was questioning the validity of the flu shot. However, the last time I can remember being this sick with these types of symptoms would have been in 00′, the year I did not get a flu shot. For me, personally, I’ve seen enough evidence to see the benefit and will never go without a flu shot again.

I also have to sing the praises of cough syrup laced with codeine.