I got sick right after Christmas. The first three days, it was a stomach bug with a sore throat that felt as if I’d swallowed razor blades; the sore throat then became the main attraction, with chills and a low-grade fever. Everything tasted weird. Then it turned into more of a cough, and laryngitis. Ten days later, I still have the fever. I take a lot of naps. Yes, I got the flu shot.

I left the house to pick up some food and flu stuff at the local Rite-Aid the day before yesterday, and my car’s temperature gauge was all the way in the red zone. So today (a relatively balmy 30 degrees), I checked the radiator and didn’t see any antifreeze. I filled it up, and came back inside. My mechanic told me to check it after I filled it, but I said I felt sick again and I’d do it the next day.

It’s so weird. Even though I wasn’t outside for long, and yesterday was a lot warmer than it’s been in days, I felt like I’d “caught a chill” (as they say in Edwardian novels). Even my bones felt cold. I jacked up the heat, filled up a hot water bottle, and curled up on the couch under an electric throw. I was still cold!

I feel okay now, but that was weird. Oh, and everything still tastes awful. I had some mac and cheese for dinner and it tasted like antifreeze, even though I’m pretty sure it didn’t have antifreeze in the ingredients. Yuck.