Did You Hear Something?

I have to officially say I am sick. Sick as in ill that is. This is a very rare occurrence in my life, I never get sick, but after having tried to deny it for some time now, I am finally biting the bullet and admitting to the truth. This has been coming on for a while and I have done a fair amount of kidding around about it when people made comments or asked. To thwart it off I joke and tell people I have diptheria, malaria or whatever other exotic aliment comes to mind. This was done to get a laugh and ultimately to let whatever it is that I have know that it is not going to get the best of me. Mock it and it will go away is my theory.

That ploy was working okay until my voice went kaput. I came in to work and within 20 minutes started to sound like a prepubescent boy, my voice cracking and going from high to low with no warning. By eleven it had settled in my lungs and I had a low Lou Rawls kinda thing going on, and by afternoon it had turned into a hoarse raspy sounding whisper. Of course this is frustrating as hell to me but a whole lot of fun for everyone else. Chris was sympathetic for the first couple of hours, but when everyone else took great delight in harassing me he hopped right up on that bandwagon too and waved goodbye as it pulled away. Not only were my co-workers and staff giving me grief, but so were the hospital's elderly volunteers, various patients, and not to be left out of course were the doctors. I deal with a wide range of people every day and seemed to be fair game for all of them. I will admit that I have ducked out of the way when I see certain folks coming so as to avoid being teased to death. I can just see the headline in the paper now: Local Medic Dies from Aggravation. Some of the better quips include:

....."Hello? Who is this? OMG did I reach a 900 number?"
....."If you lost your voice is your mind going to follow?"
....."Your voice is so husky you could lead a dog sledding team!"
....."Rox are you speaking Klingon today? Just put Chris on will you?"
....."What in the hell did Chris do to cause that?"

.....After finishing up with a patient I asked one of the doctors if there was anything else I could do for him and his reply was: "Could you sing us a song?"
.....I kicked Dave in the shin when he informed me that this was how all men like their women.
.....Ron found a can of zylocaine spray and chased me up the hallway threatening to complete the job for me. (zylocaine is an analgesic used to completely numb the throat.)

So whatever this is better clear on out soon, that or I am going to start hurting people. Chris is quite adept at mimicking voices, and for the better part of a day wherever we went if I spoke, he would mimic me to the point that folks would ask if we both have the same crud. That's when I would explain that no, I am actually sick and Chris is just demented.

Life is Short. Remember to live, laugh and love more! Take Care Rox!