I lost my voice twice recently. Once was losing my literal voice and once was losing my metaphorical voice.
I woke up Saturday morning, June 12, with a slight sore throat. I didn’t think much of it and went to Austin with Noelia on our usual food shopping foray.
However, before we left, I landed in Facebook jail for 30 days. And for such an unreasonable reason. I typed in something that they said was against their “community standards” so I agreed with their assessment and told them I wouldn’t post it. Then I still landed in the slammer for 30 days. So there went my metaphorical voice. My Facebook High School voice if you will, where I am much more popular than I ever was at RHS.
My sore throat kept getting worse and worse so I went to the doctor on Monday morning. They gave me a steroid shot in my behind. I thought that was kind of odd for a sore throat, but what do I know? On Monday night I found I couldn’t eat anything. My throat was so swollen it hurt too much to eat.
The next morning I was much worse so back to the doctor I went. This time I got antibiotics and something to spray in my throat to help with the pain. Every time I swallowed it felt like tiny trolls were in the back of my throat stabbing me savagely.
As of Wednesday morning I had lost my literal voice. I couldn’t speak above a whisper. Oddly, no one in my circle, around my house or at work saw this development as any kind of hardship whatsoever.
And you can imagine the scene around my house when my parent’s ears don’t hear like they once did and I could only whisper. That was interesting. I got a lot of looks from them that said, “Yes I totally understood you,” knowing full well they had not. But we got by.
My throat was so swollen during that time that I could barely drink water. I had to take very small sips or it would just come back up. I lived on Popsicles as my sustenance. Until Thursday night when I got so hungry that I decided that I had to eat something.
I remembered there was a box of macaroni and cheese in the pantry, so I made that and was able to eat a little of it without too much pain.
There is a silver lining to this story.
Over the past year and a half I was lucky enough not to get COVID. What I did get, however, was enormously fat. I got up over 200 pounds, which, for me, is the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life.
I started taking more walks in the morning around the neighborhood behind The Reporter. I love that neighborhood and I love old architecture, and I think some of Rockdale’s most beautiful homes are located there. Dad says that neighborhood used to be called Puddin Ridge back in his day.
When I went to the doctor on Monday, I only weighed 197 so I was already on the right track. After not being able to eat for the better part of four days I weighed 188 pounds on the scale at home.
I need to get back into the 170 range. I’m more comfortable there. And my clothes, when I’m in them, are more comfortable there.
Highly unrecommended, but sore throat and laryngitis was the best diet ever.
Luckily for everyone my voice did not return but I still got to enjoy all the Father’s Day festivities going on at our house. It felt so nice to have everyone under one roof again. This is the first time we’d all gotten together since COVID started.
Hope you all had a happy Father’s Day.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.