Return to the Land of the Living

Helloooo!!!!
 I apologize for my absence. As you all know, my goal is to post in each of my blogs once a week, but last week I could not because I was very, very sick. To be honest, I've been sick off and on since the beginning of February. As you might recall, I had a double ear infection that laid me up for about a week, which is why I only did a quickie post the week before last. Sadly, the bulk of the infection never cleared up, my ears got better, but my sinuses only got worse. Last Tuesday I developed a fever/chills and body aches in addition to the severe sinus pain and headaches I was already experiencing. I was virtually bedridden for four days. I went to my doctor to be screened for the Flu (negative), and I also had  a lot of blood work done. The blood work showed that I had a lingering bacterial infection that the first round of antibiotics didn't clear up, plus a viral infection that my doctor first feared was Mono, but that was later ruled out because I already have the EBV Antibodies, which means I must have had Mono when I was a kid. Long story short, I was put on a stronger antibiotic to kick out the last of the the infection, and the virus was ruled to be of the garden variety, something I probably picked up at the daycare, since the children are always sick with one thing or another, and I had to just treat the symptoms and let it run it's course. The fever finally broke on Saturday, I spent the rest of the weekend recovering, and I returned to work on Monday. I am getting better every day. I have about 15% of the congestion still hanging on, and I still tire fairly easily, but I'm definitely on the mend. I would like to thank everyone who either took care of me in person or checked in on me via remote means, it really meant a lot to me :)

    I hadn't been that ill since I had the Flu in January of 2004. Most of the time I am only ill one to three times A YEAR. I've been sick off and on since I started working at the daycare. In the past three and a half months, I have had two stomach bugs, one head cold, three sinus infections (all of which required antibiotics), one double-ear infection(also requiring antibiotics)  and one virus with fever. I have been ill EIGHT times in three and a half months. This. Is. Insane. Don't get me wrong, the daycare I work for is very clean, and we are very careful about washing our hands and disinfecting the toys and whatnot, but there is only so much you can do. Children are constantly picking up germs, especially in winter, and whatever they have, they pass right to us, virtually all of the teachers I work with are also frequently ill.
 
   I cannot afford to be sick this often. Period. So although I love the children I care for, and I really like my co-workers, my days at the daycare are numbered. There are other reasons in play, but my health is the primary one. I will be staying for probably another month or so, as I have a co-teacher leaving for vacation and another co-teacher out for two weeks because of back surgery. The last thing I want to do is screw anyone over, but I am going to start the search for a new job. The question is, what to do? As I've said, my degrees are all in theatre, and I am very active acting and teaching with the Syracuse Shakespeare Festival and other local groups. SSF pays, but not enough to make a living, so I must continue to look for the dreaded *day job* while my quest to someday make my living only in the Arts continues. But what to do? I've done retail *shudder*, I've also done food service. In a pinch I could probably go back to that, as long as it was only for a few months, but I'd rather not if it was at all possible. Does anyone have a suggestion for a low stress/low annoyance day job with decent pay? Maybe in the Syracuse area? Toss it my way, I could really use the feedback.

Oh, and another question. Like I've said a bunch of times in this blog, my body has been through a lot these past few months, and I've been feeling pretty run down, and it's showing in my hair and skin and energy level. Can any of my hippie homeopathic buddies recommend some safe ways to get my vitality back? Help my liver get rid of all the antibiotics I've been on? Make my hair and skin shiny again? I just haven't felt like myself in awhile, and it'd be great to feel like me again :) Thank you!!! Sorry for the ranting, but the bottom line is I am getting better, and that's all that matters :)

Love,
Lynn