The day after Christmas I started feeling sick. After E left to go back to Cinci, I went home to take a nap. And there started my 2 week long holiday flu. The first week, I was running a fever with a very sore throat. Nyquil was my constant companion. I got a couple of hours or sleep then woke up with cold sweat feeling chilly at the same time. It’s a weird feeling to be sweating and cold like the body couldn’t decide what it wants to do or feel. I kept the nyquil vigil up for the week. But I still managed to get up and walk Benny when it’s time. Em came over and made turkey noodle soup and walked Benny a few times in the afternoon. I was able to get up in the morning and bundled up to get out in the cold (never fails that was the time it got really cold and snowy) with Benny. This gave me serious doubt that I should keep a dog as I get older. Although they are such great companions ready to give you love and attention whenever you want it, it’s the sick time and the cold weather that makes it so difficult to keep a dog. And since Ey is so allergic to cats, I should not have cats either. Benefits and disadvantages of having pets.
By the second week, I was tired of the cold and ready to feel better. But I wasn’t feeling better, the cold dragged on. I still had a bit of fever and now sore throat turned into scratchy throat and I started coughing too. I ran through a whole box of puffs in a few days with the constant nose blowing. Oh, it was awful. Then I remembered the nose irrigation thing I got for Ey to clean out his sinuses. So I went out and got a neti pot and started rinsing my nose out. I think that really did help speeding up the recovery. At least I was able to clear the junk out instead of letting it drain down my thraot and settle in my lung like it always did in the past when I have a cold. I would be couging for weeks afterwards. Sometimes it turned into like an asthma attack where I couldn’t stop coughing. This time I believe with the help of the neti pot, I don’t have as much drainage down the throat and I didn’t cough that much and it didn’t last as long. Although it’s the 12th and I’m still coughing occasionally and blowing my nose occasionally, it didn’t turned into an all out war of coughing uncontrollably.
I think it was 1/1 that was the turning point for my cold. New Year’s Eve was the worst. I did not have any energy left and I was feeling desparate and exhausted. I even called for help and asked Jake to come and walk Benny that afternoon. I spent half an hour desparately trying to figure out who I can call for help. Couldn’t reach Em, can’t call anybody else that I think isn’t a big bother on New Year’s Eve to come and walk the dog. Finally, I called Jake. And he is such a sweet and kind man, he came right over and walked Benny and that was it. Didn’t hesitate for a second. Such a nice young man.
Even after I went through the cold, I’m still not a believer in the vaccine. Now after I watched the Taiwan news about a 10 year old kid who died after the vaccine in a month, i deepend my mistrust in the shots. I know it does help a lot of people, I still can’t bring myself to go and get one.
Yesterday, I watched Dr. Oz and he was advocating multivitamin, Fish Oil and D. It reminded me of taking my vitamin pills and my calcium pills every day. I really, really need to establish the habit of taking them now. Especially my bone density test showed the symptoms of pre osteo. I’m so bad at taking care of the body. It’s time really to take it seriously. So I can enjoy life to the fullest without hinderance from the cold or flu…