"A Break" Almost Always Ends Up Being Illness For Me...

Me, at work, smiling through the stuffy nose!

I am getting ready for a mini-break, and my throat is aching and my sinuses are full. This is pretty typical for me - anticipation for some time to rest and then my body taking over to remind me how important rest actually is. I'm not too worried about this - it is my typical allergic response to spring, but I can't take the heavy duty medications until tonight - they knock me out for 24 hours and dry me up. So, I am going to suffer through today with my lightweight medications and then sock the allergens with the big meds tonight. Tomorrow will be most of a loss for my goals since I'll be in bed where the dizzy spells and the extreme fatigue will be able to overtake me without injury, but this would have needed to be done due to the Easter lilies that will surround me on Sunday morning at my church job. I have only 18 hours to go before I can medicate.

I don't know why my body tends to do this, but it has become a tradition - especially for spring here in my state and for my second spring break (when I get them). I have all sorts of theories about why now and why before breaks, but that's kinda silly considering that most of my breaks are precipitated by some sort of illness event. I wonder if my body can keep things down when it is busy but when it is time to rest, all the gunk starts to move and my body can start its immune response. It seems to be a delay defense that my body just does (I'm choosing to think FOR me and not AGAINST me!). I can take care of the strain of cold virus that has been floating around my facility, and I'll watch out for the strep bug that has swept through as well. As long as my body doesn't lead me into the influenza strain that has gone through my church job's community, I should be fine. I'm thinking that this is an allergic reaction to my world.

Everything is currently blooming and budding and greening, so allergens and pollen are floating everywhere! We're having a late spring this year due to all the rain and cold that happened in March. This allergy attack usually happens during my first Spring Break, but this has been delayed until this week. What this means is that I am allergic from Spring Break #1 through Spring Break #2 and beyond. This year, I've been lucky (?) because things have been delayed, but I'm feeling it now. According to my favorite weather app, we have a 50% chance of thunderstorms today, so that may help in the short term. It will just encourage things to grow in the long term, but it may help today by sending all those airborne particles into the ground.

Even in the throes of an allergy attack, I still have to lead music therapy groups and individual sessions. Things are complicated when I'm not feeling well, but until I have to spend lots of time hooked up to a breathing machine, I am not contagious and there is no reason why I shouldn't be at work. So, I put myself into my work uniform, take my full box of tissues, and off I go to do music with people who sometimes want to do music and sometimes do not.

I only have two groups to lead today. I'll probably end up running therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) that don't require lots of singing or breathing on my part. We may just do what I did yesterday with one of my groups - we improvised a rain storm with my water type instruments. They indicated the sounds that they thought sounded like rain - I added ocean drums, rainsticks, and the thunder tube - and we played. I told a story, they played as indicated, and we spent the entire session trading instruments and playing a rainstorm. This was my (often) most challenging group, and they did very well (other than one difficult transition for one group member who settled once we started singing). The end of the day was good, and that made my commute home a pleasant one. Today, since my throat is hurting, I will probably not do the entire story - just some rain songs as long as my throat will allow. 

Tomorrow, I get to go back to sleep every time I want to (and the heavy-duty medications will make me want to all the time). I love breaks for that specific reason - napping! Today, I will go out into the world of pollen and burgeoning allergies to do what I love to do - make music with my students for their enjoyment and their benefit. I will have to finish my documentation before I leave, but my afternoon meeting has been canceled, so I will not have to stay as long as I usually do! Happy thoughts!

For the moment, I am going to do my morning routine (I arrived at work exactly at 7:15 am - the time I am supposed to arrive if I want to leave at 3:15 pm [which I don't, but that's an entirely different choice].) I will finish up my morning chores and do some more creative organizing to get my craft desk ready for one of my projects, and then I will head to work for this last day of the week. 

Happy (almost) weekend!