Blah, blah, blah, I hate being sick, blah, blah. You’ve heard this before. Many of you have said this before.

Today I jacked myself up on Dayquil, Vitamin C, and caffeine, and proceeded to color a Sunday and a half, script a week, and then pencil a week. I even went out in public, doing the pencilling at Dragons Keep.

At the time I left for the Keep I was exhausted, but I really WANTED to keep working. I fooded, drinked, and then knuckled down and got to work. I LIKE working. I don’t WANT to be sick. And before long I didn’t really feel like I was.

I also iced my arm twice during the pencilling session — that has little or nothing to do with the sick, and everything to do with the tendonitis. It helped a lot on that front. Also, the naproxen seems to be working better than the ibuprofen did.

I’m home again, and I’m probably going to finish up that last Sunday strip. I’ve taken to coloring with episodes of Tom Baker’s Doctor Who playing in one corner of one of my two monitors. It slows down some operations noticably, but it keeps me in my seat.

I was sick all day yesterday. I slept some (3 hours?) and took it pretty easy. I packed fluids and vitamin C, and had several small meals during the day. Mostly I sat in front of the computer, and with the help of some cold medicine I got some coloring done.

I also lost 2.5 pounds.

I weigh myself every morning at the same time, on the same scale, and I think this is the single biggest one-day weight loss I’ve ever recorded. I lost the weight without fasting, without exercising, and without really being hungry. Apparently fighting off a sickness requires a lot of calories.

It’s nice to lose the weight, but I’d rather not drop it quite that quickly. This morning I feel shaky and weak, and still a little sick.

Headache. Chills. Sore throat. Inability to focus for more than a few Sandra is mowing the lawn right now, and it’s making me thirsty.

What was I saying? Oh. Yeah. Drink of water.

Double-whammy today… the arm hurt, AND I woke up with one of the worst post-nasal-drip sore throats I’ve had in ages. No fever, but it’s pretty obvious I’m coming down with something. I packed vitamin C all day, but I may be out of action tomorrow.

I spoke to a Physician’s Assistant today in his unofficial capacity as my neighbor and friend. He did a quick, informal diagnosis (“sounds like tendonitis to me,”) and confirmed my suspicion — if I go to the doctor he’ll prescribe anti-inflammatories (Ibuprofen, Naproxen, and/or Acetaminophen), ice-packs, and maybe mild heat-treatment prior to activity. He then agreed with my course of action which is “do all that stuff, and then see a doctor if it’s not getting better.”

The plan, then — buy some Aleve and Tylenol, and keep a steady supply of those in my system (treating Aleve and Advil as if they’re the same thing, because they operate on the same path, and taking especial care not to overdo it with the Tylenol because I only have the one liver). Icy-hot the arm in the morning before doing any drawing, and ice-pack the arm every couple of hours in the afternoon as I take breaks from pencilling and inking.

It may be a moot point tomorrow, though… I half expect to be in bed sick all day.