October and I don’t get
along very well. In fact, this evil month seems to have it in for me big time.
October just sits there on
the calendar, 10 months distant from the beginning of the year, where you don't even think about it, hoping that I’ll
forget its prior dastardly ways and stumble yet again into its trap. And usually, this fiendish month is
right. I go through the delights of
spring, summer and early autumn, and never see that punch in the nose coming
until its too late.
It’s like walking along in
a meadow on a crisp, yet sunny fall day, admiring the beautiful gold, red and
orange of the leaves on the trees, and suddenly stepping on the upturned
business end of a rake and snapping the handle against your forehead. Ouch!
So what’s the problem with
October? Well, every October since I
started living in Ukraine
I hate this month!
As I write this, I am
sitting at my desk in my sweats. I have
been wearing my sweats since Sunday.
These sweats need washing, but I need to wear them. Fortunately, I did manage to make my way to
the shower today and then put on a clean T-shirt. I haven’t shaved since Friday (today is
Tuesday). If I was out on the street, I’d
look like a homeless alcoholic (almost).
I've had an on-again,
off-again fever since Sunday, and I've been suffering from that kind of
chronic, deep-in-the-lungs coughing that seems certain to result in my spleen working its way into my handkerchief (which also needs to be
cleaned… yuck!). Add to that the
obligatory hot and tired eyes, reduced equilibrium (remember the homeless alkie
look?), and serious lack of sleep, and you get the whole picture. And did I mention that I have about as much energy as an apathetic, overweight
Fortunately, this is not
the worse punch October has thrown at me since 2008, but it sucks
nevertheless. When October first got me,
in 2008, it was for about a week or so.
I was living in my old apartment, and I remember that I decided to just
sleep – and live – on my living room sofa.
I was a sad sight, and I was lucky to have a couple of friends to play
the role of Florence Nightingale for me.
But the next year was even worse. In October 2009,
I was knocked out for about two weeks or more, and I had one night when I
seriously thought I would not see the next morning. I felt completely weak and had massive sweating attacks (pardon the less-than-appealing
image) that led me to believe I was having a silent heart attack. Again, my local amateur nurses came to my
rescue, but in this instance I actually had to go to a doctor.
The next two Octobers were
not as severe as that one, but still I was knocked out of action for a week or
so. That is not especially advantageous
when you need to work each day to earn a living. No work, no pay!
But I thought that maybe I
was developing a stronger resistance to the dreaded Kharkov
I don’t know why I seem
more prone to viral or bacterial infections in October. Maybe they come from sharing crowded marshrutkas
(route buses) with a bunch of people who could be carrying anything from common
colds to superbubonic-swine-foul-fish flu/plague. But I ride the marshrutkas at other times of
the year and don’t get the same effect.
Oh well, on the plus side,
at least I do get a bit of, “how can I help” attention from the girls when these
things happen. That’s always nice.
Maybe next year, I should
plan to be out of the country in October.
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Additional Note: Relating to a previous post, it occurred to me this evening that when you live alone, you never feel as alone as when you are sick.
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Additional Note: Relating to a previous post, it occurred to me this evening that when you live alone, you never feel as alone as when you are sick.
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