When I get a cold, I can usually tough it out and continue to go about my day while self-medicating with over-the-counter drugs. I'm even getting better about working from home when I get a particularly nasty cold so I don't pass the bug to everyone in my office, despite the fact that I feel guilty when I'm not at my desk.
But I've been down for the count for the last week. Today is my ninth day with a horrible infection that my doctor said might be both viral and bacterial. Luckily I finally broke down and visited the doctor yesterday, and he prescribed me a Z-pack (everybody's favorite antibiotic), and some cough syrup with sweet, sweet codeine to help me sleep at night. That combination, along with the Mucinex DM that he recommended, have already helped tremendously. I'm feeling like a new person today, even though I still sound like a freak.
Unfortunately little miss Isabelle caught my cold, so I am feeling ridden with guilt. It seemed pretty mild over the weekend but last night she seemed to take a turn for the worse, after waking up every two hours crying and choking because she's so congested. Although she's not running a fever, her temperature is higher than what's normal for her so I called our pediatrician's office this morning for some advice.
As I suspected, there's not much they can do but let it runs its course. They said to keep on suctioning her nose as we've been doing, try running a cool mist humidifier in her room at night, and see if she sleeps better inclined rather than flat on her back. As I was getting off the phone with the doctor's office this morning, she was smiling and giggling while my sister played with her so that made me feel better. And I'm hoping she sleeps a lot at daycare today....
I'm taking tomorrow and Friday as vacation days because my sister is in town and my friend Brooke is flying here tonight from North Carolina - they are both teachers and are spending their spring break with us. I'm so glad I'm feeling better today so I can enjoy the long weekend with them!
3 comments:
9 days! Ouch. Z-packs are wonderful though...Hope you're feeling better soon!
Hey there,
I use the vapor bath with Avery. Sometimes I have her take a bath in it and other times I just run a hot shower and let the bathroom get really steamy. It helps break up all the gunk in her system, then I just suck and suck and suck it out. I even hop in the tub with her, and just cuddle sometimes in order to keep her calm and relaxed. It's helped with croup a couple of times, and I've used it when she's congested too. Good luck...I hate it when the little ones are sick!
Try a heavy coating of vicks on her feet with socks at night. I read that for some reason the vicks activates best through the feet and it really helps Jack when he gets a nasty cough. The night we do this...the coughing goes WAY down. We put some on his chest as well just because we remember how great that felt as a kid.
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