Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh... choo.

I am sick.

Okay, that sounds a bit odd, I suppose, since you know that I am really, seriously, terminally ill.

But the fact is that I sort of compartmentalize the cancer stuff as much as possible, when it comes to dealing with the ucky symptoms - I don't think of it as being sick per se, I think of it as a process involving unpleasant but inevitable challenges that crop up so that I can find ways of living around them.

That's different from being sick.

I used to get sick at the drop of a hat, at least once a month.  But since the cancer diagnosis, I've been stuffing myself full of vitamins and herbs (Vitamin D3, people... get tested and make sure it's in the upper end of the 'normal range'), and taking a medication that regulates (in my case, up-regulates) the immune system**.  If you ignore the bone pain and the stuff that glows in my scans, I've been remarkably healthy for the last couple years.

Since I can't ignore the bone pain, I really resent anything that makes things worse.  I figure I should be immune to the everyday sort of viral and bacterial nonsense.  Don't look at me, I gave at the office.

So now, for the first time in the two years since my diagnosis, I have a real live Bug.  Coughing, raspy voice, throat that feels like it's being stabbed by knives, red raw nose, the whole ten yards.  

Darn it!!  

To make matters worse, the immune system medication and narcotics cancel each other out - so I can't take cough/cold/flu medications, because the stupid cough suppressants are pretty much all some form of narcotic or other.  So I just have to live with the symptoms until it feels like going away on its own.

Darn it, darn it!!!!

So much for ringing in the New Year.  I'm coughing it in.

Christmas is definitely over.  Bah.  Humbug.

**I'm taking other medications, too, but those don't affect the immune system, or the cold medications available to normal people.