A Smeddling Kiss

In Which The BlogHer Swag Comes in Handy

Every year, I get at least one bad respiratory illness. So far this winter, I've been very lucky - the few little head colds I've caught haven't settled in my chest. Notice how I said, "So far...?"

Yup. I'm sick. I woke up Thursday morning with the feeling that I was wearing a lead x-ray bib on my throat and chest. Of course, I CAN'T be sick this week - there is way too much going on - so I'm pretty much trying everything I can think of to head it off before I reach the "time to visit the doctor for a narcotic cough syrup prescription" phase.

So here I am, laying here in bed, tapping away on my iPhone, slathered in Vick's VapoRub. I took cough medicine, used my inhaler, and then found a little tub of the Vick's in my medicine cabinet, compliments of the swag haul from last summer's BlogHer conference. I can't remember ever using vaporub, but I do remember reading comments on parenting websites swearing that slathering a child's feet with Vick's and putting socks on will miraculously quiet coughs.

I'll keep you posted as to how well it works.

In Which I Get The Bad (Cough) and The Good (Drugs.)

Sick AGAIN. It wasn't enough that I just went though several weeks of coughing and the inevitable round of oral steroids - I got another bug last week and it's been bad.  I was feeling SO good, too - the steroids had done their job and I had this little "Spring-is-sprung!" buzz for a week and then whammo! 

I actually had a check-up last Thursday, the day which I began to suspect I was coming down with something.  Getting my blood pressure taken, I mentioned the tickle at the back of my throat and my daughter's gruesomely green nasal mucus. My NP poked something into every head hole and assured me that everything looked fine. "Probably allergies," she said. "This year is the worst I can remember."

The next morning I woke to 100% sinus blockage, the kind that results in weird squeaks and rumbles as the pressure shifts when you turn your head.  The vacuum inside my nose was so bizarre that it was actually kind of cool.  I tried to use my low-pressure high-volume sinus rinse system but the water wouldn't even go IN.  I would try to blow my nose, and there would be nothing. Just more pressure, maybe my ears would plug up a little more... and then sometimes?  A moment later, deep in my nasal cavities, a rubbery whoopie-cushionish noise would echo with a resonance that spooked the hell out of my kids.   

This week has been a mix of dragging my ass out to the absolute can't-miss obligations and then crashing into oblivion whenever possible. I made another doctor's appointment on Monday, then realized I was actually feeling so poorly that I didn't feel safe driving. I finally made it back there today and left with a additional inhaler, instructions to continue the oral steroids, a prescription for narcotic cough syrup... and an antibiotic prescription in case I get worse again over the (holiday) weekend. I think I've got my bases covered, yes?