"Feeling any better?"

Yes, and no.

Yes, because most of the time I do feel substantially better. The antibiotics were unpleasant at first. (Nurse Liz informed us that Zithromax works in part by stimulating your immune response, and your immune response to an infection is to burn it out. When we called Liz, it was to find out what level of a fever warranted an emergency room trip. My 101.6 was not cause for immediate concern, and the acetaminophen brought it back down to low-grade levels-- at which point, the sweat was running off me like a river, and I could not get cool enough.) Once they'd had a bit of time to start working though, things got better. My body no longer aches everywhere. My head is largely okay. My ears are still congested and hurt, but not to the same degree they did before.

And then there's my throat. My throat still feels like I've been gargling with steel wool. Most of the time, it just hurts, but when I cough.... The cough is the entire reason for the "No" part of "Yes, and no". When I cough, my entire body gets into the act. I still have some pain between my shoulders from a coughing attack this morning. A dry cough will make my throat and ears sear with pain for a good 15 minutes afterwards. If it's a wet cough and something comes up with it, all bets are off.

If you love me, stop by with some cough syrup. I react well to Robitussin during the day and NyQuil at night.

In the meantime, today's diet consists of chicken soup (mmmm, hot salty water), orange juice (mmmm, acid), tea with honey (I *hate* honey in tea, but in this case the smooth coating on my throat is worth the nasty taste), and the rest of the cough syrup in this house.

"Feeling any better?"

Yes, and no.

Yes, because most of the time I do feel substantially better. The antibiotics were unpleasant at first. (Nurse Liz informed us that Zithromax works in part by stimulating your immune response, and your immune response to an infection is to burn it out. When we called Liz, it was to find out what level of a fever warranted an emergency room trip. My 101.6 was not cause for immediate concern, and the acetaminophen brought it back down to low-grade levels-- at which point, the sweat was running off me like a river, and I could not get cool enough.) Once they'd had a bit of time to start working though, things got better. My body no longer aches everywhere. My head is largely okay. My ears are still congested and hurt, but not to the same degree they did before.

And then there's my throat. My throat still feels like I've been gargling with steel wool. Most of the time, it just hurts, but when I cough.... The cough is the entire reason for the "No" part of "Yes, and no". When I cough, my entire body gets into the act. I still have some pain between my shoulders from a coughing attack this morning. A dry cough will make my throat and ears sear with pain for a good 15 minutes afterwards. If it's a wet cough and something comes up with it, all bets are off.

If you love me, stop by with some cough syrup. I react well to Robitussin during the day and NyQuil at night.

In the meantime, today's diet consists of chicken soup (mmmm, hot salty water), orange juice (mmmm, acid), tea with honey (I *hate* honey in tea, but in this case the smooth coating on my throat is worth the nasty taste), and the rest of the cough syrup in this house.