Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough

On Friday, it all began. I woke up with a hoarse voice & recognized the tiny bit scratchy feeling in my throat. Sinus drainage. yuck. I do this a couple times a year. I have some drainage & it settles on my vocal chords & I sound croaky & awful for a week and then my voice recovers. I don't usually FEEL bad, I just SOUND bad. I went to work expecting to be asked a thousand times if I was ok. Sure enough, they asked.

I guess it effected me worse than I realized that day. I came home after my last day with my class at school & layed down on my bed. I really wasn't sleepy at all. I just wanted to take a 5 minute break before I got up & went again. It was 2:50. I had 10 min til I had to leave to pick up the kids. At 3:35 the phone rang. As soon as I looked at the clock, I knew who it was! Sure enough, it was the school calling to ask where I was. I felt SOOOOOOOOOOOO bad. Luckily, I made it to the school in 2 minutes flat! (Seriously.) We're only about 2 miles from the school & the afternoon traffic was already gone, so I put the pedal to the metal. I think I went airborn over the speed bumps in the school driveway & pulled up to the curb on 2 wheels. The lady who had called me was on the PTO executive board with me this year (she also happens to work at the school) & she was standing at the curb with the kids, giggling. She knew how panicked I sounded on the phone & got a kick out of the speed with which I arrived at the school. I apologized profusely while she said over & over "It's ok!!!". The kids piled in & we went to pick up Savannah at her school where she was one of the THREE remaining kids.

Ugh. Worst mommy award for me! Luckily, I was able to win their affections back with some Sonic for supper that night. (ha ha)

It occured to me that night as I began coughing quite a bit that maybe, just maybe this sinus drainage stuff was wearing me down more than I realized. In case that was the truth, I went to bed a little early that night (it was only 11-something after all) and proceeded to cough a few times before falling asleep. I remember waking up coughing a couple times, but after a sip of water, I had no trouble going back to sleep. Yeah, I've got this whooped. No biggie for me. After all, I've got a great immune system. I'm soooo rarely sick. Right?

Over the weekend, it's progressed to a little more than that. I cough the most at night, but I do cough a bit during the day, too. Last night was the worst. I literally slept maybe 2 1/2 hours all night long because of the coughing. I've done all my usual remedies & so far, nothing's worked. I've put Vick's Vaporub on my chest & feet (google it if you don't know why!), I've taken Sudafed Cough & Cold, I've taken Robitussin. I've propped myself up on a hundred pillows. I've kept a water bottle on the nightstand & sipped on that when I wake up coughing (assuming I get to sleep at all--and of course that leads to a thousand potty trips for this 3 time mommy who is squirming & squeezing my thighs together with all this coughing!! Sorry...I know, TMI.). Last night I finally gave up & went to Larry's recliner in the living room about 4 am. I finally quit coughing enough to sleep a little bit.

Today, 2 friends recommended Mucinex so I decided to give it a try. I also bought some cough drops & some Nyquil (capsules). I took Mucinex about 3:30 & after about 3-4 hours, I did notice that it might've been doing something---breaking up the crud & making me cough more (but the coughing was a little more, umm, productive than before). Before I get in bed tonight, I'm taking the Nyquil & doing the Vicks thing again.

What bugs me most is that all the coughing has irritated my lungs enough to flare up my asthma a little bit. That's what happens when you cough for 4 days straight, a thousand times a day. I've pulled out Sarah's extra inhaler (because mine is out of date by about 2 years & we're not insured right now so I can't go get a new one) & I'm using it. We have the same type of inhaler so it's OK...and she's got several extras anyway!

You know, there are muscles in my back & shoulder blade area that I didn't know existed. They're all sore now from this incessant coughing. yuck.

On the bright side, I've nearly finished a book I've been reading. Haven't felt like doing much else!