Getting well

Today is my first day back at work after a four-day weekend...but it was not a mini-vacation by any means. When I initially went to the doctor a couple weeks ago, it was for a staph infection (yuk) and I was given some strong antibiotics. I took the antibiotics for about 9 days...and then my body began to react. Last Wed. night I went to the hospital with two co-workers because I had hives all over and I was feverish and itchy. Clearly something was not right! The doctor prescribed me an antihistimine which I bought that night and took immediately. I had her write me a note so I could miss work the next day if it hadn´t subsided, and good thing, too, because what she prescribed me with was a generic Claritin. Needless to say, you can´t treat a sulfa-drug reaction (which she correctly diagnosed) with hayfever medicine. When I realized this the next morning, I was glad I had a note to miss work, but I was feeling worse than ever. Later, I asked my friend Barbara to buy me some Benadryl at the pharmacy which she did. I knew it would at least take the edge off the itching. Just minutes after she arrived with it (Thank God) my friend and co-worker, Betsy, called to tell me she had just run into another group of the American doctors downtown and she told them about my case. Immediately, they bought me some meds. at the pharmacy (a cortico-steroid and some good, old-fashioned penicillin). They made a house-call, giving me explicit instructions on how to take the meds. and what to expect, and they even came back later that evening to check on me. It took about 18 hours, but the itchy hives finally subsided and my face stopped looking sunburned and swollen.
I stayed home on Friday, too, with a note from my American doctors, and the rest and recuperation were much needed. The itchiness was really starting to get to me, and I needed a lot of sleep. Never before had I had a problem with antibiotics, but from here on out I will have to be very careful not to take any other sulfa-drugs because next time the reaction could be faster and much worse. It was a scary thing to go through, and I just feel very lucky that I wasn´t alone. I have a few, really solid people here who I know I can count on.
Now I´m just trying to get back into the swing of things at work, and that´s taking a lot of energy. Lots to do! Planning, planning, planning! Because I´ve been sick basically the whole time (even though I didn´t necessarily know it), the first couple weeks of this cuatri have not gone quite as I expected; so I am trying to take things as they come now. My plan is to just take care of myself and not get too caught up in worrying about all the things that I think I should be doing. I am finding support for this approach through the wonderful book I am currently reading: Eat, Pray, Love. It´s perfect and it´s been bringing me lots of joy. I´m also getting acupuncture treatments and still going to meditation and Xi Gong classes. Soon, I´ll go check out the new yoga class across town...I´m setting my priorities straight!
On a school-related note, this week I am having my two Gastronomy V groups give oral presentations about foods they have selected from a timeline, tying the food in with the current unit, The History of Gastronomy. My Public Administration II students are going to get their next assignment: a Food Journal project. And I´ll be starting with my fourth group soon in my first fully online course for Public Administration V. But there I go again, thinking about what I´ve got to do.
On my road to wellness, I am also still trying to find a new place to live. But I am hopeful, because Valladolid is opening up in new ways to me day by day. The past five months here have not been easy, but I have a good feeling that the shifting energies are going to bring a new depth to my experience here.