The Road to Recovery

I came back from Charlotte exhausted and as a result, I caught a bad upper respiratory infection complete with heavy green phlegm.  I woke up early Sunday morning with the worst sore throat ever right after dreaming that I was trying to find Amoxicillin at a drug store.  I opened the medicine cabinet and found a bottle with three tablets in it and took one.  A few hours later, I work up feeling a lot less pain in my throat, but still suffering from a heavy cough and fatigue.  I spent Sunday in bed and Monday as well.

I took another pill late Monday and Tuesday morning I woke up feeling considerably better.  Now, I am not the type to run to the doctor's for antibiotics every time I get sick in fact I hate taking medicine but I knew what I had and how to fix it.  My voice was still scratchy and my head was still congested when I went to work Tuesday. After work, I stopped by and got oil of Eucalyptus and did a hot pot of water along with some peppermint from my garden and put my head over that with a towel to concentrate the fumes breathing deeply.  Within hours my congestion was much better,and my phlegm was pale yellow and much thinner.  Obviously things are going along in a good direction.

My manager was quite adamant that I was to take a full course of antibiotics, but frankly I think that doctors are in bed with the pharmaceutical companies and taking all those pills is just a way to take more of the product.  There are a number of natural ways out there to supplement man-made drugs and doing what I did, I believe, gave my system a bump and then forced it to take over on its own.  Also I firmly believe that when taking antibiotics one eat yogurt and I had a healthy bowl Tuesday morning.  As a disclaimer, I am no expert, I do what I do for me and let you know what works, but just maybe it could work for you.

Caring Bridge

I just read another installment on my friend’s Caring Bridge site. If you don’t know anything about Caring Bridge, it is a site that allows seriously ill, mostly cancer, patients a way to blog to family and friends about their condition. My cousin’s wife used it when my cousin was in a coma and it really helped keep everyone informed as to what their family was going through and about his progress. In his case the site was not up long as he died about 2 weeks after falling into the coma. But they have family from all over so it was a blessing that everyone was able to check in and see how things are going, as well as knowing all the details for the funeral when that time came.

I believe there are several sites like this but this is one of the largest. They boast half-a-million people connect daily with more than 1 billion visits. They cover all 50 states and are in more than 225 countries/territories world-wide. Sites like this offer the ability for the ill person to share their experiences with their family and friends and let them know how they are feeling, their thoughts, and needs. In my friend’s case, when she is too sick to write, her daughter posts entries. Her daughter is a pre-teen and I am sure this is hard on her, so having the ability to express her feelings in a safe environment (the site is password protected) I imagine gives her some relief from the emotional pain that I can only imagine she is going through.

Back in the days before the Internet, people would keep in touch through letters and phone calls. Some say the art of letter writing has somewhat died, however, I think it is been replaced by blog writing. The medium has just changed. Instead of writing a letter to just one person, you are writing to many. In that respect you speed up the process and more people are kept informed. But more importantly your circle of friends becomes wider. In the case of someone who is seriously ill and dying, maybe they feel they can leave a little of themselves behind in a way that is more widespread than letters.

A Terrible Cold

I have had a cold since Thanksgiving. It’s not been any cold, no…it’s been the Mama of all colds. It started with a sore throat and then progressed to a bad cough and a stuffy head, and now it’s just a stuffy head. My doctor announced that I was suffering from a dysfunctional Eustachian tube. Just another thing about me that is dysfunctional, but I digress. So now I have to find an otolaryngologist. What a name. I have learned that the word otolaryngology means the study of the ear, nose and throat diseases from the Greek oto = genitive for ear, laryngo = genitive for larynx/throat, logy = study.

Anyway, I remember that my son saw one near our home when he had his nose broken in a fight and was suffering from spontaneous nose bleeds, so I went to Google and looked for, and found, the doctor and made an appointment. While I was on the Internet, I searched for various remedies for a blocked ear and found several items all saying pretty much the same thing. When you have a blocked ear, you need to yawn to clear it rather than close your nose off and blow. Apparently that can cause harm to your ear drum. I did the later and got the biggest head rush of my life. I was driving at the time and actually had to pull over because I became so lightheaded I could not drive in a straight line…scary. I also found that a strong decongestant, coupled with a nose spray and ibuprofen to reduce the swelling helps. Ah, some relief. I still haven’t removed the stuffiness, but it has lessened a bit, albeit a small bit.

I have a real empathy for deaf people from this experience. I used to think that of all the senses I won’t miss my hearing as much. But now, with the drastic reduction of my hearing I realize that the hearing sense is just as important as anything.