My will to survive was dwindling. I had to make a plan. If I could break it all into baby steps I might be able to pull it off. I could feel the cerebral spinal fluid in the base of my skull thicken from dehydration. The toes on my right foot were mysteriously ice cold- like the hand of death was reaching out for me. At that point I had an out of body experience and out popped my SurvivalSelf. SurvivalSelf shook her head at me in disgust and asked if I was just going to lay there and die. I considered it for a moment and then agreed that if she could get me through this, I'd do almost anything.
SurvivalSelf weighed the necessary steps with the ones sure to nudge me from my pitiful state. If I took a hot bath and put my contacts in, I would accomplish several important objectives: (1) I would thaw out my right foot and increase overall moral, (2) my world would be less blurry and therefore provide a more positive outlook on life and, most importantly, (3) I would then be naked which would force me to make a decision at a major crossroad that would dictate my success: I could either get back into my pajamas and wallow in my self pity and starve to death or I could seize the opportunity to put on some clothes and shoes and get out the door to scavenge the world for food.
SurvivalSelf's plan worked perfectly and I'm now well on my way to surviving the day. It was a risky venture to go out into public under my current state but I was starting to fade and needed to act quickly. My challenge would be indeciveness with potential for a total melt-down in the frozen foods aisle. I stayed focused and put myself in my happy place as I perused the aisles. I had two vital tasks to accomplish: I needed to rehydrate (badly) and I needed somewhat tasty, easy and fulfilling calories. I did ok. I came away with 2 bottles of Propel, a jug of V8 juice, a carton of yogurt, 2 bananas, 2 frozen pizzas, 2 cans of corn beef hash and a box of cherry turnovers from the bakery section. My nausea was building to an unbearable degree and I wondered if perhaps the prednisone was worse than just enduring the poison oak.
It being lunch time when I got home, I popped a pizza into the oven and ate a cherry turnover while I waited. While munching on the fabulous pizza a feeling of peace came over me. Yay! With food and a little more fluid in my system I felt slightly more invigorated with life.
SurvivalSelf said "Good, now go mow your lawn". I kicked her in the ribs, put my pajamas back on, took another dose of prednisone and crawled into bed to sleep off the nausea.
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