Monday, August 13, 2007

Soul Coughing

I've been suffering with a nasty summer cold for going on two weeks now. I've been through the sore throat and stuffy head phase, almost through the nasal congestion phase, but it's this cough that just won't go away. My back hurts, my stomach hurts and my chest hurts. Plus, there is nothing more sexy than coughing. We spent the last five days in Pasadena watching the Drum Corps International championships and my poor husband was stuck in a hotel room with a woman who woke up every two hours coughing and walked around in a daytime cold medicine haze. Sorry honey. The weather was nice, we saw lots of friends and watched from the comfort of a suite at the Rose Bowl, so no complaints on the trip, just could have done without the hacking.

My work schedule this week is hellacious; my newest client was not happy that I was gone for most of last week and is now making up for it by pushing an unattainable deadline on his project. I'd like to believe my consultant mantra in situations like these: Your bad management and planning does not make this my crisis. Unfortunately I think in this situation it does make it my crisis and I am going to be working my ass off for someone who has the personality of a warthog.

So, please send me your empathy, your best cough-stopping tips and maybe a few jabs at Mr. W. Hog. I have several posts for y'all that will just have to wait.

12 comments:

  1. Ugh, I can't believe you are still fighting that junk. What an awful bug. I hear copious amounts of wine helps you not care about coughing anymore.

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  2. So sorry about the illness. Bad enough being sick, but being on a work death march can't help. I find that old fashioned cough drops do wonders. I even sleep with one in my cheek.

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  3. the cold I had earlier in the summer made me feel absolutely diabolical, I'm so sorry you're having to work through it. Ugh. Lots of hot lemon and honey?

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  4. UGH! So sorry you're feeling like crap. I hate being that sick. What really works for me is codine cough syrup-- usually when it's bad the only way for me to sleep. Also, steam up the bathroom with shower running for as long as the hot water lasts, then breathe it in for as long as I can stand it. Finally, Guaifenesin (plain old Robitussin, to loosen up the chest gunk; another form is Mucinex I believe). You Dr. can prescribe a pill form that is sooo much more pleasant than the liquid form.

    I can't wait to hear about DCI. As a former pageantry corp gal myself (alas, only in high school) I still find it rather cool!

    Hoping work goes okay, and you can tell Mr. W. hog to take a ride on the nearest sit-n-spin. What a royal arse! ;-)

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  5. Sorry you've been down for two weeks. Best coughing aid I had recently was Robitusson with codeine (and the bonus is you get to feel "floaty") but that's no good if you have to concentrate. Get well soon...

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  6. Good 'ol hot tea with honey and lemon helps the coughing for me everytime. Hope you feel better :)

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  7. Loads and loads of empathy coming your way.

    Lemon-flavoured Night-time Neo Citron worked for me. Or may be it just knocked me out so soundly that I never knew I was coughing at night. And a good sleep will make it easier to have to deal with Mr. W.

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  8. Oh man, how awful! I hope you feel better soon.

    My father's cure was always tea with rum and honey. Not sure it's a cure, but it feels nice going down.

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  9. Oh, Donna, I'm so sorry to hear you are still fighty that crappy cold! Being sick is such a pain in the you know what, butt, however, being sick in the summer is just plain UNFAIR!

    I'm also sorry you are subjected to the wart-jerk! Couldn't remember exactly what term you'd used but liked that it started with wart so I improvised. It is so hard to be in the position where you're cleaning up someone else's messes and you look bad if you don't. Hopefully that won't go unnoticed by someone who can appreciated you.

    I always forget to thank you for reading my blog, MiKael's Mania - Arabian Horses, so I'm going to do it now while I'm remembering. Your readership is appreciated.

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  10. donna-
    i've got the whole sneezing, congestion, sore throat here myself, so i feel for ya! of course, it had to hit when summer was over and we all had to go back to school! hang in there, and keep benadryl handy to take (at night!)

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  11. I had a similar cold that knocked me flat on my ass for over a week. In the end it was a humidifier, an inhaler, and lots of Luden's cherry cough drops that did the trick (no codeine for me, 22 weeks pregnant at the time). The inhaler was actually for allergies, but it helped to open up my lungs so I could breathe, and have a more productive cough. Sorry that you've got el jerko on your hands too-heaven forbid you took some time to do what you wanted!

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