I am sitting in bed. Well, technically on the bed. Trying to rest. I came down with a wicked sore throat last week and it got progressively worse as the week went on.
The last time I had a cold was well over a year ago: Spring Break. We went on a family ski trip. Let me be clear. The cold did not come from being cold on the trip. And when I say ski trip, I had actually opted out of the skiing part. I rarely leave the warmth of the fireplace at the lodge. But the thing was that my husband had had a head cold right before the trip. So with an overheated hotel room, zero moisture, and recirculated air, I had his nasty head cold by the time we got home.
Before that, my last cold was the year before. Ironically, that was Spring Break too. My husband had had head cold prior to that trip too. Then he had a mild relapse on the trip. Lots of congestion. Lots of snoring at night. By the end of that trip, I had a nasty head cold too.
Do you detect a pattern here?
But for the past year and some months, I have managed to stay quite healthy. My husband has had a few head colds, but the last time he got sick I quarantined him to the guest room and sanitized everything within an inch of its life. Miraculously I stayed healthy. My daughter had a few colds this year too, but I still managed to avoid those too.
But last week, my husband casually mentioned that he had a sore throat. Later that afternoon, so did I. Unfortunately, I could not blame him for this one, since he was only a few hours ahead of me on symptoms. And even more unfortunately, I did not take it seriously. I proceeded to go about life at my normal hyper-speed.
By the weekend, I felt like crap. My throat was so sore that I took myself to a “doc in the box” clinic. When the doctor asked me to "open my mouth wide," I almost could not do it. My throat felt like it had been sewn shut. They did a rapid strep test. Which was negative. They took my blood pressure. Took my temperature. Listened to my lungs. Checked my ears, eyes, and nose. Everything was normal. If it weren’t for my raging sore throat, I would have had no symptoms at all. The doctor asked me what I had been doing to try and remedy my sore throat. I proudly told her that I have been:
Making and consuming homemade chicken soup.
Drinking herbal tea with lemon and honey.
Drinking lots of water.
Using herbal throat lozenges.
Using an herbal throat spray.
Gargling with warm salt water.
Taking Zinc.
Taking Vitamin C.
Taking Advil at night.
She gave me a huge smile the way a teacher beams at their favorite student. She said, “Great job! What about resting?”
Suddenly, I heard the proverbial record scratch.
“Resting? Um. Well, not exactly.” What I didn’t tell her was that all week I continued to teach two yoga classes per day, played tennis, had meetings, ran errands, went grocery shopping, cooked meals, did dishes, and (of course) did laundry.
She sent me home with the marching order “to rest and try menthol throat lozenges.” I tried to lay in bed. But, it was really hard.
Apparently, I am not good at resting. I ended up paying bills, answering emails, scheduled meetings, and wrote this blog post. I only got up a few times: To feed the dog. Make breakfast for the family. Make lunch for the family. Finish the laundry. Do the dishes. Take out the garbage. Sort the recycling. In the late afternoon, I went with my husband to sit on the beach… because it was Father’s Day and that made him happy. For dinner, we went out for Mexican food (his favorite) and I skipped the margarita.
I think that counts as resting… Right?
