Grounded
In the last week we’ve had an electrical fire; fried several lamps, our toaster, and TV; and then I got the flu – TWICE.
Yes, I’ve been spending a lot of time in my burgundy silk pajamas, topped off with an oversized sage green wool sweater from Ireland. My days have been revolving around short trips to the living room, taking a morning and evening hot bath to stay warm, and counting out vitamin C tablets.
It all started last Tuesday when I swallowed too many big vitamin pills at once and irritated the back of my throat. Soon after that, I felt a tickle that turned into a rattle. By the time I got to the voting booth in town for the presidential primary and then to grocery, I was primed for picking up something contagious.
It’s been more than eight years since I’ve been sick with a cold or the flu. Being sick this past week has been almost nostalgic, a nuisance for sure, but, for the most part, very manageable. I was happy with the way beta glucan stimulated my immune system, eucalyptus oil opened up my nasal passages, and I was surprised at how much mileage I could get from two aspirins.
After five days of explosive sneezing, intermittent bouts of low grade fever, and bed rest alternated with light activity, by Saturday night I finally felt well enough to go out. I didn’t want to miss the local spoken word open mic, held at the Café Del Sol and co-hosted by the writer’s workshop I belong to.
Once at the café, I found that being immersed in a milieu of merriment was initially harder than I thought it would be. I briefly flirted with the idea of calling Joe and asking him to come pick me up. But my excitement at the turnout and the energy the crowd had for the spoken word won out. After two years and four months of a few of us plugging away to maintain a viable local spoken word venue, seeing the record overflow attendance that night was a sweet validation I would have been very disappointed to have missed.
“I’m trying out my all-new voice … or lack of it,” I said to the audience before beginning my reading. “The trick will be to do this without coughing…” They laughed at my poem about my Jesus who reads the obituaries and has a long braid like Willie Nelson’s.
During a break for refreshments, a friend offered me a homeopathic remedy for cold and flu. I felt noticeably better after taking it (but looking back it could have also been the Guinness I drank that caused the improvement).
Homeopathy works like an immunization, it’s a like-treats-like approach that involves exposing your system to minute (or vibrational) amounts of the disease you are fighting. I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I was so happy with my improvement that I took a second dose when I got home.
By the next day I was shocked to find myself sicker than I had been on any of the previous five days combined, as though I had introduced a whole a new flu strain to my already compromised body.
Back under the covers I went. Cursing as I slunk down.
February 19th, 2008 12:07 am
hmmmmmm. i wonder if it was the trip out that did you in. i had an upper respiratory infection from dec 19th – the first week in january. there was a period of about 4 days when i felt better and went out into the chilly, damp air because i was so tired of being isolated and because i needed to resume my life. Boom…sick again! then i got paranoid. when i see someone coughing or sneezing or blowing a nose in public i move out of the same aisle. i change check-out lines if need be! looks like i am now immune because i have seen so many of these outlaws lately, and i am still perking!
hope the rest of feb is better for you!
February 19th, 2008 12:12 am
I had a cold in January that behaved the same way… I was sick for a couple of days, then feeling better, and then that sneaky cold decided to infiltrate my lungs and I was waylaid again. My voice went, my lungs burned… guess I wasn’t as over that cold as I thought!
Hope you are feeling better.
February 19th, 2008 2:49 am
Oh, no!! Hope you get well soon!
February 19th, 2008 6:24 am
I would not be here were it not for homeopathy of all kinds- left you an award on my site- it will help your cold ha
February 19th, 2008 6:38 am
be well sweetie. sorry it’s been so long.
don’t forget the vinegar and honey in hot tea(or water). and lots of garlic. not that it’s gonna cure you but it helps to feel you are still doing something, and it’ll ease the throat.
gecmis olsun (may it be in your past).
glad i finally came around. and i loved the jesus poem and picture. poor heath. i loved how you channeled him too. i’ve done the same myself many times. luckily with nothing as strong at hand.
February 19th, 2008 8:22 am
i do hope you are well again soon, colleen. pamper yourself. one of my favorite teas when i have a cold/flu is traditional medicine’s ‘gypsy cold care’. it’s come to symbolize comfort to me when i am sick.
February 19th, 2008 9:29 am
Seems like we are all under the weather this year! Hang in and I hope you feel better soon.
February 19th, 2008 10:37 am
what is it with the respiratory bug this year? It just seems to linger on. And you think you’re better, then BAM, it give you one more swift kick! Hope you’re feeling better soon.
February 19th, 2008 10:46 am
Hope you feel better soon, Colleen!
My hubby had a bad case of the flu a few weeks ago and missed 5 days from work.
Lots of flu going around here in CO.
Margie
February 19th, 2008 1:18 pm
I remember a friend giving me pepermint tea, and rubbing peperment extract under my nose. I felt better almost immediately. How dare she touch my nose, but it felt soooooooooooo good.
February 19th, 2008 3:51 pm
Colleen — treat yourself with extreme care and feel better soon. 🙂
February 19th, 2008 7:03 pm
I’m so sorry you are under the weather! We all got this “bug” around Christmas time. My brother swears this has been the worst winter so far, for illness. I got over it in about 3 days (mom’s immune system I guess). Everyone else suffered for quite a while and then got sick again.
Hope you get to feeling better soon!
February 19th, 2008 11:21 pm
This is the year for the wicked flu. I had it right after Thanksgiving and its been so long since I was sick with anything, I literally thought it would kill me. I’m so happy that your spoken word event has taken off and flourished. Bravo Colleen!
February 20th, 2008 2:43 am
Oh Lordy….You do have to watch out for those teeny-tiny-under-the-tongue little Homeopathic goodies! This is really a case where less is more…! I hope you are feeling much better my dear Colleen….!
February 20th, 2008 9:27 am
I hope you are feeling better now. Spending a lot of time in burgundy silk PJs sounds pretty good, though. And to think you got this by taking preventative vitamins? Hang in there, take care of yourself!
February 20th, 2008 4:40 pm
Perhaps it is too late for this ‘remedy’ but I swear it works wonders. I came down with a deep hacking painful cough. Made a big pot of chicken noodle soup by first saute-ing sliced carrots, onions, celery in olive oil, then adding chopped up chicken strips, a bit of S&P, then chicken broth. I brought it up to a boil & added noodles, simmer/boil until done.
Second pot I made, I used already-cooked chicken. Still good.
Take care and keep warm.
February 20th, 2008 4:50 pm
Too tired to make it but I have been drinking hot miso.
February 21st, 2008 1:48 pm
That’s the flu. It surges, subsides, then surges again. Believe me, I know. One day I was dancing with my daughter, thinking that the flu was finally done, and the next I was shaking under the covers. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. While I was sick, I blogged about it, but somehow it didn’t get posted. I don’t feel like going back to it again.
Hope you’re feeling well.
I’m going to get some Guinness.
February 23rd, 2008 8:27 pm
did the flu- took a whole week off
then we got back to back storms
I am so sluggish now.
February 25th, 2008 5:19 pm
Richard ended up in the emergency room yesterday morning at 5:30 with the flu. He’d been getting better and then got sicker all of a sudden. It seems there are several strains going around and just as you start getting over one another hits. Hot lemon and honey seems to help, although Guinness is probably just as good. 🙂