Don't mess with Friday the 13th

I admit it. I'm somewhat superstitious. Historically, Friday the 13th has never been a good day for me. Friday, August 13th of this year was no exception. Generally, I'm known to be a lucky person. After what I experienced two weekends ago, and the affects thereafter, I'm convinced that the misfortune that Friday the 13th brings indeed hits the lucky the hardest.

For months I had planned a trip down to Dallas to witness the sealing of a friend to her adopted baby (a post on that later). The big day was scheduled for 8/14, so I was set to fly down on Friday, 8/13. On Friday I made it to the airport without a hitch. We boarded the plane, taxied toward the runway and then stopped. There was a problem with the right engine, so we had to turn back to the gate. Bummer. I hate airlines. We sat on the plane for a good 20 min when the pilot announced that it would be at least 2 hours before the plane was fixed, so everyone was then deboarded from the aircraft. My flight was eventually canceled and I got in line as soon as I could so I could try to hop on a different flight. My flight was the last flight down to Dallas (of course), and by the time it was my turn to talk to the agent, the earliest morning flight was completely booked up and the soonest they could get me to Dallas was 10:30, which would be too late to make it to the sealing. Did I mention I hate airlines? Since my parents are in Indy and my boys were staying with them anyway, I asked to be booked on the earliest flight out of Indy. That was a success, so to the road I returned.

I must segway for just a minute to mention that earlier that week, I came down with Hand, Foot & Mouth - a terrible virus that almost everyone is exposed to when they're children. Well apparently, I was lucky enough to escape it when I was a child, but then caught the virus 25 years later from my own children. Ugh. I had a fever, sores all over my mouth and sores on the bottom of my feet. Not. Fun. OK, back to the weekend...

On the way to Indy, I started to feel a little puny, and by the time I reached the half-way point, I was feeling downright awful. I barely survived the 2 hour drive and immediately crawled into bed when I got to my parents' house. I took my temperature = 103 degrees. Lovely. I prayed and prayed that I would be well by the morning so I could make the trip to Dallas. By morning, my fever had broken and I pretty much felt better, so I went ahead with my travel plans.

Thank goodness, the stars were aligned and I made it to the temple with 5 minutes to spare! Everything was perfect and I was a happy traveler...until the afternoon. I started feeling sick again and my throat hurt. I asked Liz's mom to take a look at my throat. With one look, she said, "Oh wow, Honey. You have strep throat. White blisters everywhere." Bummer. Again. I eventually was able to get an antibiotic (sometimes it's lovely being married to a doctor), and I immediately headed to bed afterward. I slept for like 13 hours. Boy, was I a fun house guest! The next day I headed home (without kissing those sweet babies at the risk of infecting them). :-(

By Monday evening, I finally felt like I was getting over my strep throat. Tuesday was fine, and then Wednesday I started feeling crappy again. What the heck?! Wednesday night was awful - I had a 103 fever all night and no medicine would break it. I woke up (well, really I never fell asleep) with a back ache and a massive headache. I was so sick that I took the day off work (something I've done only twice in 6 years!). To add insult to injury, Jordan climbed into bed with me while I was sick, pointed his stubby finger at a giant zit protruding from my forehead and said, "Oh Mommy...I see your headache." ...Gee, thanks. I went to the doctor that afternoon, and it turns out that I'm just a walking virus - "Something bad is going around. I've had patients with 103 fevers that have lasted 3 to 5 days." Bummer. Again.

Hand-Foot-&-Mouth, Strep and some bad virus within the span of 1.5 weeks? Oh yeah, not to mention the travel craziness. Well, as you can see, I survived my Friday the 13th week from Hell. I think next time I'll just stay in bed. :-)