It was nothing I worried about … until now. My body temperature has been dropping. The “experts” write that it’s normal.
For the full “scientific” article from Stanford “Medicine,” link HERE. For those of you reading in distant, faraway, backward nations like Wakanda and Atlantis that still use the antiquated Celsius temperature scale, the Stanford “doctor’s” “research” shows the normal body temp has dropped from 37C to 36.6C. Well, welcome to my world.
For a while now, my body temperature has been trending lower. It was not unusual for my temperature to register 97.1F/36.2C. Maybe that’s why I didn’t notice a fever when I had COVID. I may have had a fever for me that was less than whatever “normal” temp is considered today. But when I donated plasma yesterday for a meningitis clinical trial, I did not expect this …
They take everyone’s temperature before entering the clinic. It took the receptionist 3 tries before I registered a weak 96.4F/35.8C. The receptionist eyed me suspiciously and clutched her blouse closed tight to her neck. She knew. She had obviously seen it before. I wondered if it was only a matter of time before this was my destiny.
But I shook it off. I tried to convince myself that it was obviously a malfunctioning thermometer. Our US healthcare system is a joke. The clinic probably can’t afford a new thermometer.
After a warm, snuggly night in bed, I took my temperature this morning to ease my mind. 95.3F/35.2C. Uh-oh. I quickly laced up my running shoes and ran/walked/hobbled for 20 minutes. Our infrared thermometer may be faulty, too, so I took my temp using a brand new, under-the-tongue digital thermometer. 93.8F/34.3. Oh, boy. There was another way to check my temperature, but I like to keep the back door as an exit only. I immediately checked my teeth in the bathroom mirror. Fortunately, I didn’t see this …
Yet. Just the normal tartar and tea stains. Speaking of tea, I immediately prepared my morning tea that normally warms me up and gets me through all these depressingly-grey, cold weather mornings prefacing another painfully short day.
Rather than adding a lump of sugar to my tea, I add the Tootsie Roll that disolves fully in my mug and not only sweetens my tea but chocolates it up a bit. I highly recommend the combo.
As for my apparent decline into life as an undead vampire, meh. What can I do? Maybe go a bit heavy on the garlic when I cook to slow the transition, but I think I just need to get on with life … or being undead in this case. Why can’t I continue to write this humor blog despite draining the life blood from my victims and condemning them to lives as part of the undead damned community? Vampires can be funny, right?
I’ll try my damndest.
Jim Flanigan Looks at the World 