Icing on the cake

[annathepiper]

And if everything that's been going down since Saturday evening hasn't been craptacular enough, as of last night I think I started coming down with a cold. I started showing signs of a cough yesterday as spazzkat was driving us in, and this morning, I'm sniffly and a little hoarse. God-DAMMIT, I do not need a cold right now. >:|

But at least we didn't get any urgent phone calls waking us up last night, so hopefully when we get to the hospital things will still be stable. More as I hear it.

Comments

[borntofr4g.livejournal.com]

It must be the season. My dad came home from work with something (and passed it on to me! Sharing isn't always good, dad!), my supervisor at my volunteer job with the Democrats was KO'ed and stuck at home last week...Fun stuff, those germs, yes? Always inviting people to their parties.

[annathepiper]

And ain't no better place to pick up some tasty crunchy GERMS than a hospital, either. Meh. Stupid colds.

[lethendy.livejournal.com]

*Hugs* Hope it doesn't stop you from being with Dara.......

[annathepiper]

It has for the time being, which is really, really annoying. :(

But I am trying not to be twitchy about it on the grounds that a) she is in stable condition, b) others are able to keep looking out for her there, and c) she's going to need me at 100 percent when she comes home, so I have to work on getting this out of my system NOW. Meh.

But it helps a bunch that our local friends have our backs, and that all of y'all out there are pulling for us as well. *hugs back* So thanks.

[starfallz.livejournal.com]

*hugs and lots of tea*

[annathepiper]

*hugs back* Thanks. Tea we have and I may be in fact getting out the non-caffeinated varieties thereof. Throat Soother, maybe.

[rosepurr.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, sweetie. :( *hugs*

[annathepiper]

*hugs back* Thanks.

The nurse today was saying that it's totally normal for family members to get sick in this situation. It still sucks. :}

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

Coming down with a virus after hanging around a hospital is not at all surprising- especially once you figure in stress and poor sleep and maybe a little dehydration to help it get a foothold. Have someone pick you up some Cold Eeze or Zicam, the stuff really DOES work if you use it properly. As in, when I got my first cold post-pregnancy, instead of lingering nastiness for weeks (which is how it usually goes), it was nasty for a day or so, with mild symptoms for about a week, and then it was all better. And that was with no more than 4 hours of sleep a night, even.

[annathepiper]

The nurse was telling me it's absolutely, totally normal for family members to get ill in this sort of a situation. And since Dara is stable, I bowed to her recommendation to come on home. Plan for tonight, zonk out on the couch on Nyquil and see how I feel in the morning.

Cold Eeze or Zicam, though. Thanks. I'll keep that in mind!

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

You do have to use/start using one or the other within 72 hours of the onset of symptoms though, in order for 'em to actually work.

[annathepiper]

Noted. Right now I've got plenty of Nyquil and Dayquil, anyway, and they seem to be handling the problem well enough. I've also got Delsym, which was recommended to me at one point and which also seems to work well on me. I'll be switching to that if need be. But Cold Eeze and Zicam are nice to know about for the next time I have to deal with a cold!

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

They're not actually cold medicines, ie treating symptoms- you'd still take cold medicines along with them, if you need them. What they do is actually reduce the 'length and severity' of the cold. I've never had the Zicam, though my doctor recommends it so I'm not sure what it is, but the Cold eeze (eaze? I forget) lozenges seem to be mega zinc things, which is apparently good for immune system boosting. But apparently the lozenge thing is key- slow absorption, or something.

[annathepiper]

Zicam is apparently a type of zinc lozenge as well. I've already put out a thanks to you on tonight's update post, but I'll also say it here--I found some Zicam in the local pharmacy when I went in looking for zinc lozenges, so I picked up a pack of Zicam as well as something else calling itself zinc lozenges, so I'm going to be swimming in lozenges for the next week and a half. The Zicam does seem to be helping, along with the Delsym I've been taking, so many, many thanks for pointing that out!

[dartpoly.livejournal.com]

many wishes of *hope* for your bunch...

--
Rashina, from TM

[annathepiper]

Ah, hi there and long time no see! Thank you very much for your wishes of hope, and do please keep 'em coming.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

You take care of yourself, you.

HUGS and best wishes to all.

[annathepiper]

*hugs back* Thank you.

lyricae has just nominated herself person in charge of coming over here and kicking my ass if I do too much. And she has given me homemade soup, too! Between her and kathrynt, I daresay I will be fine.

Re: Glad it's not just in my head...

[annathepiper]

Yeah, if I can lick this thing now, I won't have it in my system when she gets home. Which is the important thing. So!

Sorry to hear you've caught the plague du jour, anyway. Stupid colds!

Sick...

[fenton.livejournal.com]

Sucks that it's true, but as pointed out previously -- high exposure level, high stress, little sleep, low resources... there isn't really a better recipe for getting sick. :/

To the various suggestions of things to consider, I'll add: Cold Snap. It's not a miracle cure, but it has helped cut several days off of bouts for various of those in the household, especially if taken early. It seems to primarily be a purgative-like effect, in that the earlier you take it, the more it helps, by kicking stuff out before it multiplies -- and the less miserable you'll be while it's working, since getting rid of said stuff is generally the miserable-making part of a cold.

The other points already made still hold, of course, but I'll spare you the repetition. :)

Re: Sick...

[annathepiper]

Yeah, and even with washing my face and hands in a hospital, I still got this thing. Just goes to show you that anything that actually manages to hang around in a hospital environment is a superbug. Bleah.

But at least it seems to have only a fairly light hold of me, and it helped that I got in huge amounts of sleep yesterday afternoon and last night. I plan to go take a hot bath in a little while and get huge amounts of sleep tonight as well, and hopefully tomorrow I'll be in better shape.

Thank you for chiming in! I've got quite a few cold meds around the house right now, and so far Dayquil and Nyquil seem to be standing me in decent stead; after I'm done with those I'll be switching over to Delsym if I have to.