Disaster

Remember how I said I was so excited to make a big, American breakfast-for-dinner on Wednesday? Bad news, bears.

Wednesday, I was completely exhausted, probably because Tuesday and Wednesday are back-to-back 8:00 am classes days, and once I get up Wednesday morning (6:45), walk to school, and start class at 8:00, I have class for a solid 4 hours. I knew that I was kind of tired, but it didn't feel abnormal until the last 15 minutes of my Phonetics class, when all of a sudden I got really antsy and agitated that the professor was (to me) wasting time showing us Youtube videos of French slang (I think professors have a compulsion, here, to use up every single minute of alloted class time).

When I left class, I felt chilly, the chilly that you feel when you're really tired or about to catch a cold. I walked straight home and ate about a half bowl of soup. Madame B and I were due to walk to the bank to put my ring in a safe-deposit box, and luckily I squeezed in a nap before we had to go. When she called me, though, and I got up, I could tell something was wrong. Either I had woken up mid-nap cycle, or was coming down with a bug, but I felt really under the weather, and I could tell instinctively that the walk to the bank was going to hurt.

For an old lady, Madame B walks really fast. By the time we were in the bank vault, I could feel my body starting to shut down, and I just wanted somebody to show up in a car to drive me home, but I had to buy some sunscreen for my trip. I bought it as fast as possible.

I went home, collapsed into bed, and called Zachary like a pitiful weenie. He didn't pick up, so I texted him "Zack, I feel awful and I'm cold and tired and shaky and I have multiple people to feed in 4 hours!" I took two aspirin and tried to sleep. Everytime I'd wake up, I didn't feel much better.

About 5pm, I got a call from my Canadian guest, Laura, and she said that she was so sorry, and really really really didn't want to cancel, but she was feeling awful and knew that she just wouldn't be able to make it. I felt so relieved, and I confided that I felt awful, too, and I was so glad she had called and told me, because otherwise I would have tried to push on through. We laughed about it, and wished ourselves a get-well-soon.

I got on Facebook to see about telling my French friend, Abellia, that the dinner would be canceled, and then I saw that it was her birthday. I couldn't believe that she had agreed to spend her birthday with me, because we've only met once before, and I just couldn't cancel on her birthday, only 2-3 hours before she was supposed to arrive. Besides, I was feeling better, anyway, and it should have been less stressful with only one person.

I'm really tired, so I'll cut about two hours from this story: We're flipping the first pancake, and I just crash. I had to sit down. Then I had to open the outside door, because I was burning up. Then I couldn't catch my breath, and my hands were tingling, and there was an obnoxious whine in my ears. I told her, between breaths, that I was really, really, really sorry, because this was probably the worst-birthday ever, but I had to cancel right then and there. And she assured me that it was okay, not my fault, that she didn't want me to get sick and she wouldn't cry a river over it, but I felt so terrible that I just couldn't get my energy back. I had to leave all the mess in the kitchen, and she had to help me up the stairs, where I bumped into Madame and told her, wheezily, that I was sorry about the mess in the kitchen, but I got really sick really fast. Abellia said something in French about how I looked really pale, and Mme agreed, and Abellia helped me up to my room, where I flopped immediately on the bed.

That's where I've been since last night, drinking tons of water, not really sleeping but not really waking up, trying to figure out if my yogurt at the bottom of two flights of stairs is worth it (going down one flight to the bathroom makes me feel like puking. sorry, TMI), because I haven't eaten since yesterday lunch. I'm considering asking the Chinese girls for help, but it'll take forever to get the point across.

On the upside, I'm not missing many classes, but on the downside, I leave for Spring Break on Saturday. I absolutely have to get better. I've already bought all my plane tickets and train tickets. I think my fever is mostly gone, but if I wear myself out like I did yesterday, it'll come back with a vengeance.

:(

Please keep me in your prayers, and if somebody has a free plane ticket from Raleigh to Angers, give it to my Mom, so she can come work her Mom-magic and make me better.