A Visitor Parked In The Western Sky

"I never really thought about how I look at the moon. It's the same moon Shakespeare and Marie Antoinette and George Washington and Cleopatra looked at."

~Susan Beth Pfeffer, Life As We Knew It

There is a rumor that if you go outside, just after dusk, you will see something special in the western sky. It's a comet, and it's called Comet Pan- Starrs (C/2011 L4). I checked out the western sky at sundown, and I saw the bright silvery bottom outline of the moon, but there wasn't any sign of the comet. It should have been positioned to the left of the moon, a slight angle down in the sky. I didn't see it, but I think it was being obscured by a small amount of wispy clouds that were in the same general direction.

I heard from the doctor, and as it turns out I don't have Whooping cough, I have a fairly new virus that mimics Whooping cough. THANK GOD! I will still have about a 2 week recovery, but I won't have to do any of the unpleasant things Whooping cough would have demanded. And more importantly, Alan won't have to walk around in a mask, take anti-biotics, or inform his coworkers that they may have been exposed to the highly contagious, painful, stupid, coughing spasm disease.

False Alarm!

My virus is a poser! Let's hear it for posers everywhere! RAH RAH RAH!

See, kept my word!

Anyway, back to the sky watching. I am going to try to get enough rest so I can venture out tonight, only this time I will drive down Grizzly Peak to my favorite spot, where I have a better, unobstructed view of the sky. The same basic place where I do my sunset photos over the bay should do nicely. Wish me luck! I think I will stop at either Panera or this wonderful little Chinese restaurant I frequent, and grab some soup for the trip. I am not sure which place will win out, both offer such different experiences, but both are wicked good so either way I win. Now, if the medicine kicks in and does it's job, and the twilight sky doesn't let me down, I think I will have something special to show you tomorrow!

Stay Tuned!

*If you would like to join me in photographing our visiting celestial visitor, pop over to SpaceWeather.com to get yourself a sky map and be sure to stop and take a look at the wonderful images of the comet compiled so far!



Mood: Hopeful

~Me :)

It's Ice-Lolly To YOU!

"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint."

~Mark Twain



My work from home photography jaunts to my office continue. LOL. Don't let the happy little giggle just then fool you, I am NOT a happy girl! This cold of mine, as it turns out is not a cold at all. Nope indeed something worse lies beneath!

The symptoms weren't quite right. Low grade fever then outrageous fever then a low grade fever that goes away for a couple days, then mysteriously returns. No sore throat. Not that I am complaining. Sore throats suck! I had the bad mother of all sore throats once, Strep Throat, which felt like a collection of tiny stars that had been dipped in very HOT oil. YUCK. So, the absence of a sore throat is appreciated, but I have never had a cold that didn't include a sore throat.

Strange.

The next strange symptom came in the form of a cough. It was a strikingly unusual cough. It produced nothing or very little, but the cough itself was intense and intensely painful and fitful as well. Several times a day I begin to cough uncontrollably, to the point where I feel like some invisible entity has their hands around my throat. You know, like the mean spirited ghosts you sometimes see in movies and bad TV shows! It's deep, and again produces nothing, but literally leaves me blue from lack of oxygen. For several minutes a day, I can't stop coughing, and no air is getting into my body. Nothing. It feels like I had pissed my body off for the last time, and it is determined to choke the life out of me.

Okay, that's it! It was time for some tip-toeing through the web pages at WebMD and Kaiser Permanente.

Both medical information sites returned one distinct possibility!

Whooping Cough.

Great... I have a painful kiddie disease.

Make no mistake, while it is usually children who suffer from this, it is probably one of the toughest, painful, things I have experienced in my 50 odd years! I can't even imagine watching any baby or child go through the painful spasms of coughing I am experiencing, let alone if I had my own child experiencing it. I don't know how all those brave souls with children do it! I really don't!

I will find out for sure later today, well, almost. My usual doctor is out of town, so an associate will be calling me to interview me over the phone. If you could possibly have Whooping cough, they would rather you start with a phone interview. It makes sense, and besides, I don't have much energy. Every time I lie down to sleep, I wake up a short time later mid-spasm.

The final straw, the thing that made me finally call my doctor was the odd noise that tends to accompany the cough. WHOOP!

I will never make jokes about WHOOPING IT UP or MAKING WHOOPEE again.

Sigh.

But in the mean time, I have Popsicles and jello, and lots of nice cold water, and salty soup.

It's all good. Well, no it's not, but it's one step closer to being cured.

Whoop.

WebMD: Whooping Cough (Pertussis) Overview
Kaiser Permanente: Whooping Cough (Pertussis) Overview

Mood: Sad and Tired.

A Brief Overview Of Popsicles. Fun Fact: In England, they call them Ice-Lollies.

 

~Me