WHAT’S UP
It’s now the first week of April.  The last time I was truly healthy was mid-December.

In mid-December, I came down with some kind of resilient sinus infection that warranted antibiotics.  Which I took and got better.  I developed some lower GI side effects from the antibiotics, and we’ll leave it at that.

By the first week of January, I was feeling better and everything seemed fine.  I was spinning a little, and did a 30min computrainer TT.

That TT wiped me out more than I thought it would, and within a week, I was back to the doctor, now with bronchitis and an ear infection.  Back on antibiotics again.  Again with the unmentionable side effects.  This time, worse.  They didn’t resolve for a really long time.  But my health was seemingly back, and I was able to manage about a two week stint on the bike in March & throw in a little running.

Then I got the flu.  Not the worst I’ve ever had, but bad enough, and relegated to an entire week of riding the couch.  The fever subsided by Saturday, but I had lingering lightheadedness, along with painful sinuses and popping ears.  Back to the doctor.

Ear & sinus infection again.  More antibiotics now.  To stave off the GI issues, I’m putting down a combination of prune juice and Culturelle probiotic, which actually appears to be helping.  It’s staving off the worst that could happen anyway.

In the meantime, I’m very tired.  This current antibiotic leaves me feeling wiped out.  The half-life after completion of this course today is 68 hours, which means it will be mostly out of my system by Wednesday.  Hopefully these side effects tail off before then, because I couldn’t dream of riding a bike right now.  It’s tough to negotiate a tight hallway or stairs right now at work sometimes.  It’s very frustrating, given that the weather is finally improving and my friends are all getting out.  You pricks.

Last night was the first night of NHMS, which was kind of the only (road) thing I had left to look forward to.  When I got out for those two weeks in March, I felt really strong.  I’ve been at or under my Mt. Wash PR racing weight for months, and Edwin sold me a rocketship of a bike to race on.  If I ever – when – I get healthy again, I see good things.  Weather be damned, I’d have a PR on Wash this year.  No question in my mind.  Obviously not on the calendar this year, but a solid barometer of how things should go in the fall.  More cowbell.

WHY AM I CONSTANTLY SICK
My immune system is horrible. It feels like it’s incompatible with what I try to put it through, because it probably is.

Setting the stage, my diet growing up was awful, and when I had the pleasure of acquiring mono in high school, I was hospitalized & out of school for a long time.  I’m sure the 5 years of daily antibiotic I was prescribed for acne has not helped matters in the least.  I’m sure any resistance I have to anything was killed off a long time ago.

To give you some perspective, I contracted scarlet fever over the summer of ’96.  Who even gets that?

Also not helping is the fact that I’m extremely allergic to dust.  Something I’ve known since I was about 5 years old (had it formally tested about 2 years ago), and it’s tough because the shit is everywhere.  My office, my house, so when I’m cooped up inside breathing it in, I’m sure that drives up my susceptibility of getting sinus infections.  In college I would get them like clockwork.  I basically mainlined antibiotics in the years I lived in our off-campus apartment.

I “don’t feel good” with great regularity.  For a time we thought it could be post-concussive disorder.  But I think it’s almost always an allergy/sinus issue.  I’ve tried allergy meds before, and they leave me feeling bubble-headed and foggy to the point where I’d rather go without.  Who the fuck wants to feel like that?  I don’t.

I’m generally ok on my own with the dust allergy, since I get outside a lot, but these times when I’m stuck indoors, it becomes problematic.  Which is likely why I’ve had ENT issues all winter.  I should probably hire a housekeeper at this point and try to write it off as an HSA expense.  And get a job that doesn’t involve sitting right under an hvac diffuser.

So take all that, tack on five concussions, and you don’t get a whole lot to work with.  When I get out & have a great day on the bike, a lot of shit has lined up right for that to happen.