Ten Cats by Graham Harrop for March 04, 2023

I’ve discovered why I have not been feeling well all week. I figured it out Thursday night when I started seeing a goopy discharge from my eyes. And my eyes were swollen, red, watery and sore. And they felt gritty like there was something in my eyes. If I saw a discharge from my cats’ eyes like what I had, I would have guessed it was conjunctivitis and I would have taken them to the vet. I was pretty sure I had conjunctivitis. I googled it. I wanted to know if my other symptoms could be from conjunctivitis. The low grade fever (is 100.4 considered low grade? That’s the highest I got), the sneezing, nasal congestion, sore throat, etc. I was even more confident in my diagnosis when my eyes were crusting shut. They are even a little crusty right now. But in the mornings, I wake up with my eyes pasted shut with the crust. So, I saw the vision center doctor at my Walmart yesterday. Yep, I have a bacterial infection (conjunctivitis) in both eyes. Part of what I read on google said, “Your eyes may feel gritty, watery or sticky and your eyelids may become swollen stuck together, especially in the mornings. You may also get flu-like symptoms such as a sore throat, fever, muscle aches and generally feel unwell”. I didn’t have muscle aches, but I’ve felt unwell all week. Another thing I read about it said you could have a runny nose and sneezing and I’ve had that. The doctor said this is contagious, yet he said I could still work. But I looked really horrible. Every co-worker who saw me was asking me if I was okay. My eyes were puffy, red and watery. I could not work like that. I told my assistant manager I’d have to go home. He agreed it was for the best because I looked so sick. I also said that I might not go to work Saturday either (I won’t) and he said that’s fine too.