Tired vs. More Tired

As I boarded the plane on Friday afternoon to Cincinnati, I couldn't help but think how Mckenna's doctor appointment would turn out. She was burning up earlier that day and was just "off". She wanted to snuggle even more than usual and was very content to snooze for hours and hours in our arms. She's a very loving and snuggly girl, just usually, not that snuggly and loving. I finally got the news when I landed in my destination - Influenza A. Mckenna had 103 temperature and now we knew why.

There were two thoughts that entered my mind as soon as Mandi told me the news: 

I'm glad that we have an answer as to why she was off.

I'm glad that I'll be away from her for a little bit...followed by asking Mandi to find my Tamiflu prescription. 

Mandi was told to give Kenna some liquid tylenol to break the fever as well as some Tamiflu of her own to try to stave off some of the symptoms. It seemed to work almost immediately as Mandi saw improvement the next day. I got back into town on Saturday night and Mckenna seemed to be steadily improving through Sunday. She's definitely not 100% as her sleep has been disrupted more and she's not totally interested in eating, but we are seeing a lot of improvement.

I started taking Tamiflu the night I got back to do my best to avoid any of the crud, and so far, so good...I think. I did wake up with a sore throat and an ear ache, which has lasted throughout the day, but I don't have a fever as of now. I was also pretty devoid of energy all day, but that's pretty common for me after a couple days of travel with such a short turn-around time. Needless to say, I had a major case of the Mondays plus whatever the heck, if anything, was going on.

The last thing I wanted to do was exercise. Through some dumb motivational luck, I ended up seeing this post on Facebook:

Its days like today that I need you guys the most. I am physically tired and still sore from the run the other day. I would usually skip exercising because I am tired. But I know I need to stick to my schedule that I made. My schedule is to exercise mon wed fri as long as I am not coughing up blood. So being that I am tired and unmotivated, what are some good exercises that I can do that won't make me too exhausted????

To which I responded:

When I'm tired or exhausted I think to myself - will I get more tired if I exercise? Which is followed by, what's the difference between being tired and more tired? That's generally followed by whatever workout I planned on doing that day :)

Hearing my own advice is just what I needed!! There's no way I could "preach" without following through in my own life. Right after I typed that out I asked Mandi if she'd like to go for a walk. We ended up doing a 20 minute walk which was followed immediately buy a 25 minute run/walk that I went on while she fed Mckenna at home. 

As is always the case, I was so glad that I pushed it and did my regular workout even though I was feeling a bit under the weather and tired. I've said this many times, but it is so true - You'll never regret doing a workout!! My natural instinct is to want to shut it down and rest, but I've been led astray by my natural instinct before. It's just SO IMPORTANT that were moving as much as possible. This is especially true when we're sick. The last thing we want is for whatever is going on in our head to make it's way to our lungs. 

It's times like this that we must do anything and everything to keep our lungs breathing deeply and with purpose. You don't have to do everything when you're sick, but you should definitely be doing something!!