Remember that flu/bug in Vancouver that knocked me out for the better part of a month? It’s got a sequel, and it’s making the rounds at the Rendezvous.
My Monday that throat problem is a genuine cough and sore throat, resulting in me drinking a whole lot of hot water with lemon and lozenges. I get through it with some issues, but by Tuesday things are really going downhill.
However, this time, it’s not just me. Since we all work together and a significant number of us live in the same area, bugs travel quickly. A lot of Rendezvous are starting to fall – one girl flat out calls in sick, and while I’m nursing my new headache and the previous symptoms with ibuprofen and flu medication, my co-worker on Mexican all but collapses at noon, unable to stay on her feet. She tries taking a break to recover, but she has to throw in the towel and head home, leaving me and another backline co-worker to handle Mexican.
It’s been fairly quiet lately, so I figure I’ll be okay. Except today ends up being a tour bus day, and I spend the afternoon with a long constant line. Between helping my co-worker (who has never been on Mexican and needs some guidance on how to make things or what things are) and speaking to guests, my throat goes from painful to toxic. I try guzzling down coke just to keep it numb and hydrated enough to keep talking, but between that and the constant queue, my general health goes South FAST.
By 3:15 I’m a dead girl walking. I have a headache, a far too high temperature, a vicious cough that I can’t control and a throat so raw I can barely talk, not to mention to energy at all. Thankfully my boss takes one look at me, and at how I sound, and tells me to go home early and take tomorrow off. I stay just long enough to get the Mexican mostly under control for tomorrow, and drag myself down to the chairlift, heading into town to get a stronger, cough related medicine.
It takes forever to get home, mostly because I’m so tired I KNOW I won’t make it up Staff Hill. It’s just not going to be possible, so I wait for the free shuttle bus that’ll take me to the hotel at the top of Staff Hill on the other side, and walk along the path to Staff Accommodation (a trick many people use, especially at night since the hill has no lighting) before collapsing into bed.
I spend the next three days just trying to recover. Rendezvous staff are dropping like flies but the guys in charge don’t want anyone back up there unless they’ve fully recovered – understandable given we work with food. I use Staff Hill as my test of health, walking down it once a day for food. Each time I’m nearly dead halfway up, and sleep for the rest of the afternoon.
Thankfully, by Saturday I’m well enough that I can risk going to the Feast, and I’m back at work on Sunday along with everyone else. Really hoping that Canada’s illnesses don’t make another appearance, I’m getting so sick of being sick.
The Log Pose 