Thank You Marco's Mom!

Prior to December 2003, I was one of those people who was constantly sick with sinus infections and strep throat. It was no big deal for me to have strep throat five or six times a year. My senior year of college I went to visit Health Services to get yet another round of antibiotics and the doctor asked me why I had never had my tonsils out. I remember my mom telling me she had asked my doctor about it when I was younger and they wouldn't do it. I knew getting your tonsils out as an adult was supposed to be horribly painful, but I knew it was something I needed to do...especially before I started teaching around a bunch of sickly children. So on December 23, 2003, I had my tonsils out. And it was the worst pain I had ever been in, but was 100% worth it. Since then, I have been healthy with the exception of a few random sinus infections over the years and bronchitis once, last year.

Well now, I am on Day 9 of my virus. Yesterday morning I woke up and thought I might be dying. I had just had my third night of little sleep. My whole body ached and my throat was raw from all the coughing. Kevin told me if I wasn't better by next week, he was putting me on a plane and sending me home to get checked out (he's a little extreme). But this is, by far, the sickest he has ever seen me.

I made the decision yesterday to quit all the over-the-counter medicines I was taking (Tylenol Cold Multi-Symptom and Robitussin-DM). I didn't think there was any point in pumping myself with all those chemicals, especially if it wasn't helping me at all. I continued drinking my tea, sucking on lemons, and chugging water by the liter.

Basically, I spent all day yesterday laying in bed, watching a CSI marathon, and coughing up a lung. And then Kevin got home from practice and had a bag of medicine for me. He had told one of his goalie, Marco's, mom about how sick I was and she gave him some tips for me.

#1- Take a hot bath every night. And the water should feel like it is boiling me.
#2- Drink tons of water and tea with honey and lemon.
#3- Sleep (which is easier said than done)

And then, bless her heart, she went to the pharmacy and grabbed me some German/Italian medicines (without Kevin asking or anything) and brought them back to the rink. She explained to Kevin how I was supposed to take them and what they were for.

All my goods from the pharmacy.

Say what?

Of course I cannot read the packing on the medicines, but I was able to Google the directions in English and determined they were probably safe for me to take. I took them last night a few hours before bed and the coughing started subsiding within about an hour. I went to bed at about 1:00am and ended up sleeping until 11:00 this morning. I woke up a few times with the occasional cough, but overall it was a good night's sleep.

Today I am feeling better and my coughing has probably decreased by 75%, but my body still hurts, especially my abdomen. Is it possibly for my ribs to be in pain from coughing so much and so hard? And the gland in my neck is still swollen, making me feel like some kind of freak.

This is actually a picture of my swollen gland. Looks like I'll be wearing my hair down for awhile.