Picking up from my last entry, I was wrong. It was a cold. As colds go, I do five things if possible.
First, sweat. Sauna, hot shower, light exercise… any of those three are fine. One, you get rid of toxins. Two, it helps the aches and pains. Three, if you get your heart rate up just a little it helps get the blood flowing and thus the white blood cells out and about.
At the side, if you do exercise lightly, you will likely take a shower or bath. Hence it will lead up to steam should you take a bloody hot one. That in turn will relax your muscles more, clear out your nasal passages and begin your resting period.
Second, eat something warm. The nutrients will help your body keep up its energy to fight your cold, the warmth is an extra plus – now you are warm all over, helps with the aches and aids your body in what it does naturally to fight germs anyway. As said, chicken soup is excellent for this case.
Third, take a mild pain killer… Advil, aspirin, Tylenol, whatever brand you use. It helps with the aches and all that good stuff.
Four, drink some water. You lost a lot fluids in sweating and all and you need to keep more hydrated than usual when sick anyway.
Five, hit the bed. Rest is essential and by then you should be less achy, breathing better and freaking tired. Sleep should be easier then. In between, when you wake up, drink water and remember to eat.
So, yeah… minus the warm meal and Advil, I did all that Thursday morning. I woke up, ate breakfast, did my chores half-heartedly, constantly washed my hands… When that was done, rested a bit and then hit the treadmill for twenty-five minutes, going at quite a slow pace. Sweated a bit, got off… my muscles were limbered up nicely and that helped.
Hit the bathroom, ran a freakishly hot bath, soaked, sweated, relaxed my muscles and began to breathe better. I got out, got dressed, had nothing warm to eat around the house, and so I ate the usual peanut butter sandwich.
Felt a heck of a lot better, drank some water, can’t take aspirin, so I went to bed. I think I slept all afternoon then. I woke up around the time my parents were going to bed, or they were in bed. Stayed up, ate dinner, soaked in a freakishly hot bath again and hit the bed once more.
Friday, exercise went out the window. Sleep took the place of it, but everything was the same. Heat, sweat, eat, water and sleep. I was up in the afternoon and decided to watch Good Will Hunting. Good movie. Because of this, I managed to up by the time my parents got home, and feeling better, I went out to eat with them. I only managed half the meal and was in a somewhat apathetic mood, but I was almost over the cold… I was just weak – thus making my breathing troubled – and my throat was still suffering.
I managed to stay up that night, watched a show with my mom… maybe two even? I took another hot soak and I think I went to bed again after that.
Saturday, I woke up very late. Similar to how I was the night before, I was weak, had some trouble breathing and my throat was still healing. I managed to go to the store with my dad. We got the things, paid, left the store, went home, got home, unpacked and after eating half a loaf of warm bread, I collapsed. I woke up again around six. I think by then I was close to being my usual self again.
Sunday, I was basically the same again. My throat no longer hurt, but still a bit hoarse. I was still weakfish, too… but I could breathe and had more energy than I had in a while.
I did a light walk, more than I had on Thursday, but less than I would when back to normal. Dad returned form his own walk and asked if I’d go to the store with him. I took my shower and we went.
Ironically, my dad decided to cook me chicken soup for that night. So we were going to the grocery store again to get the ingredients… I can’t remember what else happened that… I think I probably read all day. Anyway, I certainly smelt the soup cooking and when I tried it… Well, I was surprised. It was a bloody success.
By three, I was hungry, so I screwed waiting and got myself a bowl. My mom cooked herself some sort of soup as well and had the same sentiments. So we ate our dinners in the middle of the afternoon. The rest of the day… I don’t remember, really. I likely was still reading and such.
Monday, things got back to normal, I believe. Basically that time to now if rather a blur… I was reading a lot, so I believe that is the reason. Either way, it was the same old, same old.
Now it is Wednesday. I managed to finish off the rest of the soup tonight. My dad is infamous about making meals too big for this small family. There are only three people in this house and my mom doesn’t eat the same stuff as we do. It also isn’t like my dad will help me much in eating his creations…
So, yeah… big pot of soup all for me… in total from Sunday night to tonight I ate maybe nine bowls of the stuff. Add in what little he ate… that is enough to feed five or six people depending on who decides to have seconds. I like having soup… but it doesn’t keep long and I’m the one stuck living off it a whole week until I am utterly burnt out. Oy.
Well other than that… nothing much comes to mind. I do have to get a flue shot though… that should happen on Friday if everything goes to plan. That’s that!