to be under the weather. And I don't mean the blustery, rain-spitting day outside. I mean the hoarse, achy, snotful, cough-y weather indoors. In here. In my study where the computer keyboard doubtless harbors toxic goo of a spring cold.
I started coming down with this, I think, on Saturday night at a congregational party, one of those great auction item events, at which we sang (I bellered, I'm afraid) umpteen moldy oldies accompanied by ukulele. I had a great time, but I wore out my voice. And I should have known better, but it was so much fun!
The next morning, I could feel my throat tightening up and during the sermon, I had to take many sips of water and stifle a tickle in my throat several times. I made it, but by that night, I knew I was not going to avoid Something.
I've had this kind of thing before and it often resolves without anything more than a tightness of the throat, no cold, no other problems. But this little interruption in my otherwise healthy life has turned into Something.
Monday I had to back out of our scheduled rehearsal and a worship committee meeting; Tuesday was no better but at least I didn't have to cancel anything and got some miscellaneous stuff done around the house. This morning I woke up at 4 a.m. with a raging sore throat and NO voice.
Strangely, I don't exactly have a cold---at least not the nose variety. It seems centered in throat and upper chest and has a stranglehold on my larynx. So I've backed out of tomorrow's rehearsal AND the evening jam. I have to preach this Sunday over in Mt. Vernon so I have got to have a voice then or sacrifice the honorarium AND leave them in the lurch.
Never fear, I am doing all the things I know to recover: resting, griping (not aloud), eating, complaining (silently), blogging (whiningly), ibuprofening, neti-potting, feeling sorry for myself (self-righteously), and staying away from people (wisely, I hope).
The worst part is that I am going to have to actually do something about the many small jobs around the house that have been cluttering up my to-do list and waiting for me to have some free time: gathering together all the old financial records and shredding them; relieving my files of all the useless but interesting info I've collected over the past ten years; defragging my older laptop and making it functional again. You know the drill, the stuff that I virtuously put on my to-do list eons ago and have never done anything about "because I didn't have time". Now I have time.
But I'm sick (oh, no, I actually said the word!) and I don't feel like doing anything like that. I'm going back to bed.
6 comments:
I just had my spring cough over the last several days but it seems to be on its last legs now. I would suggest gargling with very hot water that has one or two Aspirins dissolved in it. You can even drink it if you don`t mind the sour taste. This usually does a very good job of neutralizing the sore throat and curing the cough but it helps if you nip it in the bud early of course. Dissolve the Aspirins (or generic ASA tablets) in cold water before pouring hot water over them since the plastic coating they may have on them reacts badly with hot water.
Thanks, Robin, that sounds like good advice.
You're welcome Ms. Kitty.
It *is* very good advice.
Works like a charm most of the time. Especially if you gargle before the sore throat stage of the cough gets bad. . .
Hopefully you will be better in time for your Sunday sermon.
Of course you can always sooth your throat and cough as well with hot lemon and honey but gargling with Aspirin is usually very effective.
There's a lot of funk going around, Rev. Kit. I went home early today after my deadline passed, and i had to pick up my hubby on the way--he's got some kind of cold/flu/throat funk. Time for both of us to lay on the futon and watch standup comedy on Netflix and do nothing for a while.
Oh no, and you were going to get away this weekend, I thought! I'm so sorry. I'm much improved now, thank goodness.
What's the medical/scientific rationale for gargling with aspirin?
Speaking of Netflix -- we have been watching old TV programs: Maverick, MacGyver, Have Gun--Will Travel. Great fun! I like the morals depicted a lot better than the current ones (except for the older ideas with regards to -isms).
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