I just couldn't shake this darn cold. It had been with me for weeks and didn't seem to be getting better any time soon. On Tuesday night I had to change sleepwear 3 times in the middle of the night. I kept waking up soaking wet and I didn't get anywhere close to a full night's sleep. When I got to work I was determined to make it to the end of the day. I get paid good money to work, but I get a whole lot more when I make it into overtime & double time...that's where the bills get paid.
At around 11am though I was in terrible shape and was using wet paper towels to wipe my nose. I couldn't use a dry cloth or towel because it would tear up my nose in the shape I was in. I was starting to get some looks from the guys I work with on the desk. By the time lpm rolled around, I couldn't stop shivering. I was back & forth between hot flashes and cold sweats. I couldn't keep my temperature regulated and it was getting hard to type on the keyboard.
By 3pm I couldn't take it much longer and I needed to get home and sleep this off. By 7pm I was asleep for the night. I went through a few more sets of clothes Wednesday night and woke up around 7am the next day. I felt like someone had shot me in the chest when I was fully awake. I had already text messaged work to let them know I had to see the doctor before I made it in to work. I couldn't stop shivering and I felt like something was in my lungs. I know that when it comes to not being able to breath that things become serious.
I waited for hours in the waiting room and had one goal when someone finally saw me: get a chest x-ray to prove that I had fluid in my lungs. I managed to convince them that my condition was serious enough to necessitate a chest x-ray. We finally made our way to the lab and within 30 minutes the doctor was writing me a prescription for medicine to help me get over pneumonia. I had talked with my Mom, a nurse, before hand and she had given me a probably diagnosis of pneumonia...so I knew exactly what I wanted to get from the doctor. It worked out perfectly...and I wasn't going to be headed back to work soon...not until I wasn't contagious any more.
My biggest concern was being ready for Monday. A week or so earlier I had been asked to teach Seminary. Seminary is where high school students at our Church show up at 6:30am to learn about the Scriptures (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, & the Doctrine & Covenants). It goes for close to an hour and it's a ton of fun. Thanks to all my education in philosophy & religion and my Masters of Divinity, the hard part has never been preparing for a lesson. The most difficult thing about teaching Seminary is waking up before 6am every day. I tried waking up at 6am and just couldn't get prepared for the lesson, dressed, & to Church on time. This wasn't the first time I've taught Seminary. I taught for an entire year in California and it was a tremendous experience. Seminary is actually what introduced me to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Whenever I'm asked why I joined the LDS Church I tell them two things: doughnuts & girls. My friend, Nick Thomas, gave me a copy of the Book of Mormon when I was searching for a Church. After reading some of it I asked him what I could do to learn more and he told me they get doughnuts on Fridays. I wasn't doing anything at 6:30am and thought...why not. I was impressed with the ladies I met when I showed up that Friday and I never stopped coming. Eventually I came to the conclusion that there was something to the Book of Mormon and the LDS Church. I asked the Seminary teacher to baptize me and I became a Latter-day Saint myself.
When I taught Seminary in California, I encouraged my students to invite those who were not of our faith on Fridays when we had doughnuts. They did just that and it worked for me, just as it had for my teacher in high school all those years ago. It didn't hurt that we had a 1/2 dozen or so young women in our class just like I had all those years ago when I was in high school. Before the year was over, I was asked to baptize one of my students, Max Sneery. It was pretty terrific to see the story play out all over again with another young person. The magic formula of doughnuts and girls worked again.
All this tradition and history was in jeopardy if I couldn't get healthy enough by Monday to get out of bed. I spent nearly all weekend reading the Old Testament and sleeping. By the time Monday rolled around...I was in good enough shape to show up for the first day with my box of medicines I had to take 3 times a day...but I made it.
The month was amazing. I'm a stickler for footnotes and I try to have the kids go to them whenever something doesn't make sense the first time you read it. I may just have to do a separate post for my themes of the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament). It's always a tremendous experience to teach Seminary and bonds are formed between teacher and student. It's a special experience to arise early with the students...part of the benefit of shared sacrifice. I wouldn't miss teaching Seminary for the world...but it has it's price.
Half-way through my Month of substituting, I moved to the 10am-10pm shift. This means that getting in bed by 11pm would be a best case scenario. It also meant that I'd have to wake up at 5:15am in order to be prepared for the class each morning. Despite burning my candle at both ends I made it the entire month after getting hit with pneumonia right before I started teaching.
I sailed through...that is until the last day I taught. It felt like a Friday. Even though I had work the next day, I didn't have to wake up at 5:15am thanks to a school holiday on Good Friday and I was pumped. I had waited a month to be able to sleep in. I'm a big fan of staying up late to get done what needs to be done. I am not, however, that excited about getting up early. I really can't stand it. When I went to work on Thursday, everyone kept asking what was up with my eye. My right eye looked a little bit like pink eye and I hadn't got to sleep until close to 1am that Thursday morning because of an exceptionally late night at work. I knew I was close to getting sick all week...I could feel it. Well, by the time noon rolled around I had the wet cloths out and was dabbing at my eyes. Closer to 3/4pm I was having to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes or so to clean the mucus out of my eyes so that I could see straight and keep my eyes open. By the time 7pm rolled around my eyes were watering constantly and it was clear I was going to need to get something done about this before I came to work on Friday morning.
When I woke up on Friday morning I couldn't open my eyes at all. During the night I had kept my eyes closed as I had woken up twice in the middle of the night twice to use the bathroom. I know the room well enough to navigate it with my eyes closed without falling over anything or walking into anything. It took a hot shower in the morning to wash out whatever was keeping my eyes shut. When I finally was able to open them up and look in the mirror it was clear they weren't going to let me come in looking like I did. It was a cross between being stung by a bee (swelling) and being turned into a Vampire (with blood red eyes). They were desperate to brand me with pink eye the day before at work. I was desperate to find something to put on my eyes so that I could get back to work.
I had managed to get a bacterial infection of both eyes and was told several times: "it wasn't pink eye" and "you are not going back to work". Once again...it looked like I wasn't headed back to work thanks to my latest contracted sickness. When was driving around town to get my prescription and some things I needed at Walmart it finally hit me. Despite how hard I had pushed myself for the month I taught Seminary, I had been protected the entire time I taught Seminary. I went for weeks without getting a full nights sleep. I magically managed to get to the Church each morning on time or a few minutes after despite going to bed way after I should have. Each day I was able to arrive prepared to teach. Most importantly, the students and parents thanked me at several junctures along the way for the effort I was putting in. It's not hard to keep going when you get encouragement like that from those you are teaching.
Despite really putting the pedal down for weeks on end; I managed to both start when I needed and and make it all the way to the end of my month of teaching. As I left Walmart it was hard to tell the difference in the tears coming down my face from the infection and those coming from the realization that I had been watched over and protected for a month so that I could assist in the work of the Lord. It's a tremendous feeling to know that you've been watched over like I was. I don't believe in coincidences...but I do believe in G_dincidences. I'm grateful for the experience I had teaching Seminary and even more so to know that the Lord was with me in my journey. That means that the students got a lot more than just the words that came out of my mouth. I may not be ready to jump back in there and teach Seminary right now...but I hope this isn't the last time. The next time might not be so obviously, but I don't think it's the last time I'll find out after the fact that I've been watched over either. I look forward to both experiences.
