Compartment 14B
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Update on the Cold. 2008-03-10 - 7:47 p.m. I�m still sick � which probably surprises no one after my last entry. I saw the doctor today. I frankly have always felt like a complete wimp for seeing the doctor for what I�m convinced is a cold. I know that antibiotics aren�t any good for viral infections, and that over-prescription of antibiotics is a huge problem, so really, what are they going to do for me? However, I�d called my doctor�s helpline yesterday in an effort to find something, ANYTHING, to help me unclog my nose enough to get some sleep, or at least swallow without the liquid backing up slightly in my nose because no air was getting in from my nostrils. This is as uncomfortable as it sounds, particularly when the liquid was acidic juice. (Oh, who drinks orange juice when they�re sick? Oh wait, that�s right. EVERYBODY.) Anyway, they couldn�t tell me much beyond what I was already doing, but they did recommend I call when my doctor�s office was open today. This morning I dutifully made the call and was told to come in, so off I went. I didn�t really understand why since I was just as happy ensconced in front of the OC Season 1 DVDs. Turns out they wanted to grill me a bit more closely because I mentioned that the first symptom I had was a sore chest, rather than a typical cold onset. Apparently I tripped their radar detector for �pulmonary embolism�. I�ve been assured that I just have a �bad cold� though, and been given a note to stay off work for the rest of the week. I haven�t decided if I�ll take full advantage of that yet. Also interesting to me was the fact that when I joked that they �should have seen me yesterday� if they thought I seemed like this cold was bad now, the doc quirked her eyebrows and informed me that if I had indeed been worse when she saw me she would have sent me to Emergency. Gulp. I was worse yesterday though. I�d hardly had any sleep for a couple of days, I was totally stuffed up, and my eyes felt like they were boiling in their sockets. Only this state could have driven me to the desperate measures I employed. Have you ever tried nasal irrigation? That is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, and just as pleasant. Because so many people on the internet recommended it for congestion (and really, can�t we all believe everything we read on the internet?), especially when pregnant and unable to take drugs, I tried it twice. Not once, twice. Essentially it involves filling your nose up with warm salt water. The first time I didn�t have any �official� supplies like a nasal bulb syringe or premeasured salt packets, so I improvised with a turkey baster and table salt dissolved in warm tap water (I wasn�t kidding when I said I was desperate). Since I didn�t know if my less-than-stellar results were the result of my improvisation, I had J pick up a Neti pot and salt packets and tried again. Both times the water didn�t really flow from one side to the other � the side that was less congested already sent some salt water trickling down the back of my throat but the side that was blocked was blocked to water as much as it was to air, and nothing really went in or out. Worst of all, both times my nose blocked completely solid on both sides within a few minutes of ending the procedure, which was worse than it had been at the outset. So, yeah, the doctor�s service confirmed that they�d have recommended that I try it, but since I�d given it the old college try a couple of times I had to say that it just didn�t work for me. On the positive front, I do think I�ve turned a bit of a corner since my body finally let me just shut down and sleep last night. I think I only woke up a couple of times and neither time did I even blow my nose. J is being more of a rockstar than ever, by the way, and has taken on almost all the Grommet-related duties in addition to the household stuff. This is even more impressive when you realize Grommet herself has been almost as sick as I have and very, very needy, plus J�s on the very tail end of his own cold. An interesting by-product to this is that Grommet has been starting to whine for Daddy as much as, or even more than, Mumma (which, when she�s sick, can be at least every 30 seconds or so). J�s always felt like he was taking kind of a backseat to me before in the Grom�s eyes; be careful what you wish for I guess. Is it odd that I kind of feel just a little weird to be suddenly not the �golden� parent?
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