I promise this is my last post about being sick.  Unless my husband gets sick or they end up dragging me to the emergency room because mine won’t go away. 

The Bad: 

As others have said this has been a terrible flu season.  Once you get it, it is hard to get rid of.  I’ve had it for a week now and I still feel awful.  The medicines say may cause drowsiness and I am WIDE awake.  The pressure in my face from my sinuses is horrible.  I keep blowing out unthinkable things from my nose while my ears pop.  I can’t cough up whatever it is that needs to come out because I’m a girl and I can’t spit a hocker.  I’m sorry, I know how gross that is but I wish I could right now.   Next week when I am feeling better and my meds wear off I will look back and think oh no I didn’t really post that did I? 

The Ugly: 

Not only have I felt awful but I hate for my husband to even look at me.  Living in my pajamas that I could care less match or not, no makeup, my hair a mess and the gagging myself to cough it up.  Sorry honey!  And my nose is just raw, red, peeling and bleeding.

The Good:   

I think I have lost about 5 lbs this week from not eating the junk I normally eat.  Whenever I get sick I crave vitamins and feel I need to exercise.  All I’ve wanted is orange juice, milk, veggies and soup.  I also have been doing a little bit of yoga.  And after my hospital visit and having to confess my weight, that is exactly what I will continue to do.

On the next The Hunter’s Wife…Survivor Update and a post about a really helpful SEO tool.

I have many fears such as snakes, bugs, germs and emergency rooms.  Emergency rooms are filled with germs, people bleeding, or someone throwing up.  It makes me nervous, lightheaded and irritable when I have to go.

My first fear;

I was getting out of a car and the door knocked me forward and I cut my eyelid on the door frame.  I was probably about 19 at the time.  I had never had a broken bone or stitches and felt faint at the thought of looking at the cut.  I ended up at the emergency room and was nervous with each question they asked and I quickly answered.  Then they ask “When was your last monthly?”  I looked at the nurse and said “I’m not bleeding there I am bleeding here.”  And pointed to my eye.  I nervously asked question after question.  I couldn’t stop talking.  Asking them what they are doing, will it leave a scar, how many stitches do I need, how long will it take, who will stitch it up, don’t let me see a needle or blood.  The doctor asked me to please stop talking and he will hurry and get it done.  The doctor looked about 30 and after he was done he said there you go you only needed 4 stitches and you can look at it over in the mirror.  I looked in the mirror and see a Charlie Brown band-aid on my eye.  I said to the doctor “Charlie Brown?” and he said “Yes, that is what I put on all the babies.”

My second episode;

Mark and I were dating and we were at the river for the weekend.  We were going to make a nice dinner and he wanted to shower beforehand.  (This is what I get for trying to cook!)  I thought I would cut up the onion while he was showering.  My first slice and it went right in my finger.  I quickly squeezed my hand together and saw a little blood and was about to faint.  I managed to make it to the bathroom and I say calming crying “Ummm Mark I cut my finger”.  He quickly gets out and says let me see and I couldn’t open my hand.  I thought for sure if I open my hand my finger would fall to the floor.  He said I can’t see if you need stitches if you don’t open your hand.  So here I sit on the toilet trying to open my hand and thinking we are in the boonies and Doctor Billy Bob is not giving me stitches.  I didn’t need stitches but I think I kept my hand closed for a month. 

Monday’s episode:

Mark took me to the emergency because of a really bad cold.  As I sit in a daze answering all their questions like your name, when is your date of birth, your address, your insurance, how tall are you, and then I hear “How much do you weigh?” I said “I’m sorry?” She asked again and as I looked at Mark and then back at her and said “I didn’t hear you.”  She asked again louder and I said “You shouldn’t ask that question in front of someone’s husband.”

When I got home I dug out my yoga and pilates Dvd’s for when I have the energy and will not go to another emergency room unless they drag me. 

I am a germ freak and am always washing my hands.  I don’t touch the escalator rails, nor the grocery cart until I wipe it down.   Obviously I touched something from someone with germs.   I have no idea where I got it or who I got it from but I am sick. 

I haven’t been this sick in I don’t know how long.  Thursday night I started sneezing and wheezing and that was it.  Got up Friday with a fever and my head pounding with pressure and I felt totally out of it.   It resulted in calling my doctor to call in a prescription so I don’t end up with pneumonia.  Which is how I feel.  My sinus pressure is slowing moving its way down to my chest.  My nose is raw and red from blowing it every 3 minutes, I look and feel like hell and I slept the weekend away.

I ended up at the hospital yesterday thinking it was pneumonia.  They said I had a really bad flu virus and were about to send me home until they took my blood pressure one more time.  It was still high so they decided to put me on an IV and do more testing.  Everything came back good so they thought maybe I was a bit dehydrated.   Sent me home with prescriptions and told to get plenty of rest and fluids.  Which I thought I had been doing all weekend.

This flu virus going around seems to be a bad one.  Wash your hands, spray Lysol and wash your hands.  I just hope Mark doesn’t get it after picking up all my kleenex and nursing me all weekend.
 

Thanks to everyone who left their comments on what to do for the common cold.  I haven’t had a cold in a couple of years until this year.  One of the keys is to keep your immune system strong by eating healthy fruits, vegetables and venison. 

Here are some favorite remedies:

• Homemade chicken soup.  This is actually my favorite.  Not the stuff in the can that taste like metal. 
• Warm fluids; Hot cinnamon tea, hot spiced cider, a glass of red wine and one of Mark’s favorite’s Presidente Brandy. 
• Vitamin C, Goldenseal and Zinc lozenges.  You can find these in any store.  I prefer the brands from the health food store. 
• WASH your hands, WASH your kid’s hands, WASH your spouse’s hands.  I carry around sanitary wipes in my purse and wash down the grocery cart, the escalator rails at the mall or airport.  Anything you touch in public.  Door knobs are full of germs. 
• A hot steaming shower or bath.
• And last but not least, REST.  Get lots of rest.  Tell everyone to go away for the day or lock yourself in your room and watch some of your favorite movies. 

I am not a doctor, these are just some favorite remedies.  If you are pregnant, have heart problems and the like, check with your doctor before taking any supplements or drinking a shot of alcohol.

All of you hunters have gotten your wish.  The cold weather has kicked in and with that comes the flu season.  I told all of you I was going to be punished.  Well it happened this past Friday.  Mark was off to hunt for the weekend and at about 11:00 a.m. the sneezing started and the sweating.  I could NOT get sick.  I had a list a mile long of things I wanted to get done.

I was sick in bed from Friday night until Sunday.   I did nothing all weekend but sleep, eat soup, drink tea and sleep.  I am the biggest baby when it comes to being sick.  I like to be spoiled and for Mark to make sure I am covered up, make my tea, bring me soup, get me a kleenex, turn on a good movie.  All the things a 5 year old needs.   

While I lay there in my pitty party, Mark was enjoying himself hunting.   You think he would’ve ask if I wanted him to come home.  Yes, I actually just said that.  I was having a “I don’t know what I want moment”.  I don’t have them very often but when I do, I am just a …….  )(@#*$)*@#$.

Today is Wednesday and I am still fighting this darn cold.  I use to go to the doctor for everything and over the past 2 years I swore I would never go to one again.  I turned from using antibiotics on a regularly basis to natural remedies. 

So I would like to ask all of you the following:

What is your best remedy for the common cold? 

With this cold weather, we want to keep all of our hunter’s healthly.

Every year in September my husband takes his trip to the woods to see what he can find.  He is looking for deer tracks, setting up his cameras on trees and who knows what else prior to the big hunt.  Year after year I get the phone call.  I have poison ivy or I have poison oak.  This year was no different.  Phone rang at 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning and it is the dreaded call.  You need to go to Walgreens or CVS and find something for poison oak.  It is all over my neck. 

My first thoughts in order:

• Now I have to look on the internet for the best remedy.  
• I really didn’t want to go anywhere today.  Now I have to run to the store.
• He better not get home before me and put his clothes in the wash with mine.
• Now I will have to change the sheets everyday for the next 2 weeks.
• He better not take a shower and use the soap I use.
• Where the heck else is it going to spread to  …  as I start scratching my arm. 

So I go to Walgreens and our friendly pharmacist was so eager to show me the best remedy.   IVY-DRY Extra Strength Super Itch Relief Spray.  I have never tried that one so I got it.  I get home and Marks neck is awful.  Huge bumps everywhere … my list of thoughts comes rushing back.  So I spray his neck and he actually felt a relief.  

I go into the house and he has laundry going.  I run down to check that he only put his clothes in the wash.  Thankfully he did.  But as I look down, there is the empty laundry basket with the garbage bag that he had his dirty clothes in.  His clothes that had poison oak all over them.  Now I have to disinfect the basket and keep an eye on everything he touches for the next 2 weeks. 

So I thought I would provide my tips for The Poison Oak Remedy:

1. Keep a bottle of the IVY-DRY Extra Strength Super Itch Relief Spray on hand.  It controls the itch and helps to dry it out.  It also helps with other rashes and bites.
2. You can also try an over the counter allergy relief such as benadryl.  This will also help with itching.  Mark did the spray and took benadryl.
3. If your husband is going into the woods, immediately tell him to shower.  It will wash the oils off that causes poison oak. 
4. Keep husband away from laundry and have him hose his clothes down outside prior to washing.
5. Disinfect everything he comes in contact with.  Bedding, clothes and yourself.

And finally, if they have a serious outbreak call your doctor.  They may need something stronger.