Fever

Boy, was I thinking of Peggy Lee last night.

John picked me up at the hospital at 4:00 late yesterday afternoon. I felt absolutely fine and we joked on the way home. But twice on the way home, I told John I was cold.

At around 6:00, my friends Ryan came by and I met him in the lane because he wanted to drop something off for me. Waiting in the sunshine was lovely. I was hyper-aware of the wonderful warmth.

Everything was normal. I was thrilled to have the procedure over and behind me, so I decided to get comfortable on the couch with Leon. We love cuddling and watching TV together. But at 7:20 I started trembling. By 7:30 I could not hold onto anything in my hands and breathing was really hard. I felt so cold I could not stop shaking uncontrollably.

Get this: I live in a commercial building so our hot water is scalding. Last night, as the shaking got worse and worse, I got into a scalding bath. and found relief. I had the phone with me so I called 411 and the nurse said I had the fever that often accompanies the procedure I had. I may never forget the fear and shaking of the walk from the bathtub to my bed where my winter comforter held in all the heat in my flesh from the bath.

I woke up at 10:30 in a soaking wet bed. Now I was burning up. The nurse asked me to take my temperature but I was too cold too get out of bed and go back to the bathroom to get the thermometer. I went back to sleep at 10:30 and slept deeply until 5:00 am this morning.

Now… back to work on my script. But f-ck. What a night.