My father came down with a cold the other day, and after visiting the other night my wife and I managed to catch it too. This sucker’s extra-virulent, because apparently it took very little contact to spread, and it incubated in less than 48 hours.
I made chicken soup Saturday evening, but I forgot that I had planned to add whey to the soup this time, since I had some frozen from the last time I made cheese. The soup turned out okay (this time I pan-fried the chicken in ghee before adding it to the soup), but my stomach has been so messed up since then that I’ve mostly been eating rice instead.
But that’s not what I came to talk about. When I’m sick, especially with a chest cold as this rapidly became, my sleep suffers enormously. I did due diligence and took NyQuil before bed, but in spite of that, for the past two nights I’ve barely been able to rest. The reason is, my subconscious is convinced that there must be a way to fix the level of discomfort I’m in, and by shifting just so or turning over or who knows what, things will improve. So all night long my brain races, trying to solve a puzzle it won’t accept is futile. I call this sick brain.
What I’ve begun to wonder is whether this happens to anyone else. As a programmer I have an extremely analytical mind, and the process it goes through when I’m sick is very similar to the process of debugging. The only real difference is, applied debugging can lead to breakthroughs that solve the problem, and here there’s nothing to solve.
Someday I hope to find a cure for sick brain. Maybe it involves chasing the NyQuil with some stronger booze. I don’t drink, but when going to bed sick I really have no qualms about it. It might well be that the only way to stop my brain from racing is to kick it in the teeth.
When I become a supervillain... 