It’s the 5th day of 2026 and already I haven’t been able to fulfil my own set schedule of posts. But no matter… I think more of a freestyle is better anyway. Less pressure, and with my desire to leave Facebook and other big social media, I’ll just start writing about everything here, like I would do on social media (in smaller amounts), or in my private journal, only without the majority of the super-personal stuff.

On New Year’s Eve, I started getting symptoms like a sore throat, body aches, and lethargy. Felix had already been sick for a few days, and I figured it would be my turn next. Since then, I have had fairly minor cold symptoms. However, a couple days ago I lost my voice for an entire day, and it’s seeming like that might be the case again today, likely due to the amount of talking I did yesterday. And the coughing! Oh my goodness the coughing. I have coughed all night for the last 2 nights in a row. But it’s all from sinus drainage, so at least I know it’s not a lung issue.

Regardless though, when I went to my pre-op workup in December for my hip replacement surgery, they said any respiratory illness at all would delay my surgery. And since this cold has gone on so long, I did report it to them. I am waiting to hear back as to when they will reschedule me. I was really hoping to get that done and out of the way so I’m good and healed for spring and summer, and a possible move if I can find a rental house I like (I hate apartment life). So hopefully it doesn’t push the surgery date out too long.

As of today, Felix is healthy again. I’ll likely be fine by the end of the week. It’s just really inconvenient timing. Also, it’s the 4th illness to go through our household this cold/flu season. Ugh!! I haven’t been sick this much in one season since I was in grade school.