Recovery from the flu, love in the afternoon & I can't forget LC now

Friday morning I awoke with a damp undershirt and wet hair; took my temp, 98.6.  I guess I was cured?  Got out of bed, woozily stumbled into my kitchen and made a cup of coffee.  Went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth... I was out of breath.  Went back into the bedroom, began pulling my germy blankets off my bed.  Had to stop & catch my breath.  Sat down for a break, turned on my tablet and read a morning email from my sister Shawn asking how I was doing.  

I said I was recovered but pretty weak and had trouble catching my breath.  She said she was worried I may have developed pneumonia.  I didn't know how to respond to that.  As the morning moved into afternoon I got progressively pooped and canceled my plans for the day.  I read mostly and slept, and was in bed by 8pm.

This morning I awoke around 4:30am with a SOPPING WET undershirt, soaked bedsheets and a dripping head.  I guess yesterday's "break" was only a trial run.  I scrambled out of that wet bed and into the shower, put on some fresh clothes and stripped off my sheets.  Sprayed my mattress topper with Tide Sanitizing Spray (I love this stuff) then pounded that new topper for good measure, flipped it and turned it and remade the bed with my favorite crisp Indian cotton sheets.   

Feeling a lot better than the day before, I sprinted down the hall to the laundry room (it was empty and no one was on the calendar until noon).  Took all my germy bedclothes down there, got some hot suds going and came back to my apartment and made a cup of coffee.  Sat down on the couch and turned on my TV for the first time in a week when I heard a knock at my door.

When I opened it, there was Sally--a special needs woman who lives on the third floor.  She's in her late fifties and is a tiny thing, not even 5 feet tall.  She was holding a red envelope and smiling, and gave it to me.  It was this nice Valentines Day card above.  I read it and thanked her for the sweet card, and said "Sally I wish I could give you a hug, but I've been sick with the flu all week and just made a recovery this morning.  When you have a cold you're only contagious for 3 days, but when you get the flu you're contagious for a week."

She nodded okay while slowly tip-toeing backward.  I know Sally pretty well, she's a real germaphobe.  Good for her.  

After Sally left, I headed back to the laundry room to put my washed bedclothes in the dryer.  The right side of my face began to hurt and swell along the jawline.  Hello LC (long covid).  I felt like it's saying "Hey pal, I gave ya a break but you didn't think I was gone for good, did ya?"  Nope.  Came back to my apartment, got an ice pack for my lower face, worked on my shopping list for tomorrow.  I'm craving crusty rolls and polish sausage and hot mustard, potato chips and maybe some grapefruit soda.  This has been a long week.  I'm having microwave chocolate cake tonight.

Finally, turned on Peacock to search for something good to watch and found this movie that was just playing in theaters at Christmas, Song Sung Blue starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.  

They play a real life couple from Milwaukee, Claire & Mike Sardina who fell in love and formed a Neil Diamond tribute band that lasted from 1989-2006.  How is it I've never heard of this before?  I just finished watching this and it's so special, so wonderful my heart's about ready to burst out of my chest.  I love these two.

I hope this wasn't too boring a read, I really wanted to thank everyone for your kind comments to my flu-post earlier this week.  It really came out of nowhere, but I suppose things like the flu always does.

I hope everyone reading this is enjoying their Valentine's Day, thanks again.