11/27/2007

I'm sick,sick I say

I don't know what is worse about being sick...

--the growing pile of used kleenexes at my feet (which aren't really kleenexes but are some kind of rough-hewn torture device parading in the name of environmetnally friendly paper products that have whole chunks of wood and sawdust mingled in the tissue that is supposed to be applied to the most sensitive parts of one's nose)

--(not)sleeping next to someone who's temperature repeatedly spiked to 102.5 last night and each time he soaked the sheets and bedding with his clammy sweat

--having to go to the store last night because I'm not the one with the fever and running into about 20 of my students as I stand in line to buy more kleenexes and 6 different packets of medicines and I'm wearing the same pants and ratty tee that I've been wearing the past 3 days and I start to think I probably have old woody kleenexes stuck to my butt and I don't even know it and then I can't even work the debit card thingy right because I never go to the sucky chain grocery store across the street and I don't know that I have to push the buttons 4 or 5 times to tell the machine that I just want to use my debit card for crying out loud (nice Trader Joe's checkers, I miss you!)

--when I take cold medicine I can't sleep. I can doze a bit, but forget sleep. So last night I laid (lay, lie, I dunno?) in bed just staring at the ceiling and wondering when my head will stop feeling like it weighs 400 lbs already

--sleep, I miss you

8 comments:

Deborah said...

No fun. Hope you are over the worst soon!

Anonymous said...

It's especially no fun when you are BOTH sick at the same time! :o(

I can sympathize as I lay here in bed, home from work also with a bad cold, with my own pile of used tissue and my laptop to keep me company (and do some necessary work over the VPN).

I'm planning a trip to the grocery store later to buy some chicken breast, lots of garlic, leeks and cabbage and whip up some soup and hit this crud with my own "medicine".

Here's something (else) to try -- get a whole grapefruit, cut it into chunks (peel and all), put them in a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Drain the liquid and drink it before bed -- this "tea" contains some of the quinine from the peel. Doesn't taste too great, but it makes me feel better! Another thing that seems to help are throat lozenges that contain zinc; studies claim it shortens the length of your cold by a day or two, FWIW.

Anonymous said...

I should have said "supposedly contains quinine from the peel", as I don't know if it does or not -- just what I've been told...

John White said...

Quinine from grapefruit? No, it comes from the bark of the chinchona tree. And only certain varieties.

Anonymous said...

Poor little sickie! I hope this goes away soon.

I send you thoughts of virtual chicken soup -- homemade and organic, of course.

JohnR said...

Thanks, sweetheart, for enduring clammy sweats and late night grocery store humiliation for me.

Rich, as soon as I can get a hold of a grapefruit, I'm going to try your remedy.

ECS said...

Hope you feel better soon,Jana!

Anonymous said...

Another current cold sufferer here!
*sniff cough cough hack*

It's a bit late for this advice, but...have you tried cold medicine with NO antihistamines before bed? Antihistamines make me weirdly twitchy and wired, so I can never sleep with them in my system.

My favorite cold remedy: fresh clementines. Lots of 'em.