Degrees of difficulty

When you’re in distress — whether you’re 2 or or 72 — it counts only if someone’s watching. Don’t bother yelling if you stub your toe on your own.

Not even the walls care for the racket.

I typically don’t get sick. It just doesn’t happen.Oh, once a year, I’m beset with some kind of cold that slows me down. Not enough to keep me from working, but enough to impede my thought process and sap my energy so a full day isn’t worth it.

Friday, I took one in the head. Temperature of 103.

During the day, I was OK, but by afternoon, I began to wear out. Maybe it was stress or fatigue or random ailment, but by that evening, I couldn’t move. My head was pounding thanks to my fever.

It’s 90-plus degrees outside, the middle of summer, and I’m putting on a sweatshirt and pants and socks because I’m freezing. Never mind that my forehead is burning up. Usually, I’m the under on the over-under: I never hit 98.6 degrees and my blood pressure is on the low side.

So 103 for me may be 110 for other people.

I checked online but could find nothing as my fever washed over me. All it was was a high temperature, nothing more. I wasn’t even sweating.

As I lay dying on my couch, wondering if I would simply dissolve into a puddle or explode into various bits, I made a decision.

I had to cool down. Immediately.

I had to will the strength to move, to stand up. I mapped it out in my flickering brain: grab a washcloth from the bathroom, soak it, find the aspirin, pour a glass of juice, take the aspirin, sit down, apply compress, keep drinking.

I really had to work it out, step by miserable step.

Somehow, I got to my feet and did it all in one trip. I could barely move, whereas I was moving boxes and junk a few hours earlier.

After an hour, my temp came down by half a degree. I started feeling a little more coherent. I put an ice pack on my forehead and kept vigil on the couch.

Throughout the weekend, my fever subsided. I felt better by degrees (ahem), but still cruddy overall.

Today, it’s gone.

Even if all someone can do is bring you juice and rub your hand, that goes a long way.

Otherwise, it’s all in your head.