Down on the couch: While sick, I watched all 62 episodes of ‘Breaking Bad’

Growing up, I don’t ever recall either of my parents becoming sick enough from seasonal afflictions (flu, cold, etc.) to take time from being a parent and employee to spend a week in bed or on the couch slowly recuperating, sipping tea, and watching the test pattern on television.

I can’t blame my generation without backup, so it probably was just me. Despite having received my annual “wise” person’s flu vaccine (65+), the RSV vaccine, and being up to date on my Covid shots, a severe upper respiratory infection knocked me down and out for nearly two weeks.

What really annoys me is that two days prior, I had been back to the gym on a regular basis, I was doing strength training at the Y in Manchester using their new e-gym for weeks, attending Pilates and low-impact aerobics after neglecting them for a time. I even ran for a mile on the treadmill after giving up running several years ago. I felt great! In fact, according to the Y’s e-gym app (of course everything has an app), although my biological age is, um, 69, my “physical” age is 52!

The following day was election day; I had the day off and after an interview by New York college students (?) about the election, I did my civic duty and voted. It wasn’t overly crowded.

The next day I woke up, planned to go to work and quickly realized I was in no condition to do so. In fact, I had so many symptoms, I wrote them down so I could keep track of them: severe, hacking cough, sore throat when swallowing, headache, sinus congestion, both ears hurt, eye gunk I had to peel off to get my eyes open, nausea, chills, swollen neck lymph nodes, watery eyes.

So, day one, I drag myself to my Rite Aid, where they know and love me, and purchase generic cough and chest congestion without the antihistamine (diphenhydramine). I don’t want to “dry up,” I want my sinuses to empty. And with that, I consumed those 500 mg tabs of Tylenol on a regular basis. Oh, because I work with children, the first thing I did prior to my Rite Aid visit was to take a Covid test. Negative.

That was Wednesday. By Friday, I was no better and was thinking about calling my PCP but thought things might get better over the weekend. You know what they say (I don’t know who “they” are, and I don’t think I got the saying correct), treat a cold yourself and it lasts 7-10 days; see a doctor and a cold lasts 7 to days.

By Monday, some things were better, but the important things remained: hacking coughs, sinus congestion, headache, ear pain. Time to call in the big gun: my PCP. I was offered a telehealth visit, which I would normally jump at, but I wanted him to look into my throat, ears, and pathetic eyes, and check out my lymph nodes and chest. I hadn’t been outside my house all week, except one day to gather the accumulating mail in the mailbox so the police wouldn’t have to do a “well person” check.

Called the PCP, saw him that Monday, got a prescription for a heavier-duty cough suppressant than my generic OTC, advice, and a note for my employer for a medical absence the rest of the week. The rest of the week? I had visions of having fun towards the end of the week with my PCP’s medical permission note.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. I continued lying on the sofa the remainder of the week and into the weekend. Oh, my husband and I shoveled the drive and walkway because our plow guy’s truck was out of commission. (Snow was heavy, remember?)

So, what did I do all week? I barely touched the computer (In fact, someone reached out to check on me because I hadn’t posted anything in days) and I couldn’t concentrate enough to read. So, I took naps and watched all five seasons of Breaking Bad, which I hadn’t seen before. So, when I couldn’t sleep at night, I was watching Breaking Bad at two in the morning.

According to Reddit, there are a total of 62 episodes of Breaking Bad, Sixty-two nearly hour-long episodes. That’s a lot of time, time that I had. So, tell me, whatever happened to Jesse when freed from his meth-cooking slavery? Is there a spin-off?

By the time the new week had rolled around, I was ready to return to work. I figured out my liquid-gel cough suppressant could head off a hacking cough bender that was sure to get me sent home if I took it after the first cough. So, I packed that up with Tylenol and hit the road.

I didn’t look as bad as I thought I might, but my ears were still a bit blocked, and I had to ask everyone to repeat themselves. So, I’m back in the game (but, unfortunately not the gym), as long as I can take a nap when I get home from work.