Don't worry, I'm fine. I worked the second half of the day and feel pretty good. This morning was a different story-- I felt totally wiped out. Unable to move much with really heavy limbs, a headache, short of breath, the whole thing. I wasn't having any altitude symptoms before but this morning really felt like altitude sickness. In McMurdo they gave me steroids for altitude in place of diamox because they were out of diamox at McMurdo. Anyway, I was on them for three and a half days. I had no symptoms of altitude sickness except just general exhaustion which is very very common and well accepted. I've been feeling fine though, working, sleeping, eating normally, and drinking lots of water.
So today when I suddenly felt really lousy, a little faint, tired, muscle aches, short of breath, a little nauseous, I took the morning off and went to sick bay. The doc said that though it's not on a warning label he's noticed that when patients stop taking the steroid called Dexamethasone (decadron) 4mg they can feel just wiped out for a little bit. So there i was, feeling wiped out. I napped and drank about three liters of water and feel much better. Doc asked if I was a regular water drinker at home and I said, not really. I don't drink constantly throughout the day, don't get my eight glasses. He said to become a natural water drinker and fast! So I'll keep the water bottle close at hand. It's a good thing they gave one to me on the plane because otherwise I wouldn't have one. IceCube did give me a great insulated tumbler--just not good for going around outside.
So that's the word. No need to worry. I think I still look really really tired. But hey, that's what sleeping is for.
Miss. Shirey, looking pretty tired!