Recovering

          If I have any readers left, I need to explain why I have not been posting lately.  For more than a week, I’ve been so sick that doing anything took more effort than I cared to exert.  As many of you know, I teach in a remote Alaskan village.  As I started to feel badly I continued to work and self medicated.  A week later my medicine cabinet was empty of anything like Tylenol or Sudafed and I still was not well.  Early on, I thought it was merely a cold, possibly the flu, but the symptoms evolved and now I had was a bad cough and congestion.  My wife, down on our hobby farm in Washington State, sent a package with food and medicine, but depending on weather and connections, it could take a week to get to the village.

          The little village I work in does have a medical clinic.  It is small, but well equipped, the health aides who staff it are nice, well trained, people, and just like doctors, I don’t want to see them professionally.  So, I put it off going as long as I could, but after spending a couple of sleepless nights, I decided to take the short walk down the dirt road to the clinic.    

          When she was done with her examination, I asked the aide at the clinic, “Can I go back to school.”

          She handed me some over-the-counter medication and gave me an incredulous look.  “You have bronchitis, go home and rest.” 

          That was yesterday.  After twelve hours in bed, some of it sleeping, I’m rested and hopeful of a full recovery before I leave for Washington State later this month.