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Feb. 15th, 2005 12:24 amIf you ever have the opportunity to travel when you're still in the midst of recovering from an illness, I have one word of advice for you.
Don't.
You see, it appears that on 2/6, I caught![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
evildennis's head/chest cold. In me, it became a sore throat and sinus infection. Both of these had mostly faded by Thursday, so I figured that I'd be good to travel. I had to be better, seeing as Z's mom had booked tickets for us a few weeks in advance to come visit her over the weekend. Friday morning, my throat's still a bit sore, and my nose and ears are still a bit plugged up (this is important; there will be a quiz), but I figured I was good to go. Took some ibuprofen to handle the swelling, and for the first leg of the trip, I was fine. Well, until we landed.
My ears, being as large and nockerish as they are, are very sensitive to air pressure changes. It runs in the family (you see, being a nocker breeds true); my father has the same problem. The ascent wasn't so bad; I had gum, and I kept chewing it and yawning, and in spite of their initial plugged-up state, my ears cleared. The descent, however, undid all of this progress, and further irritated/inflamed my ears in the process. When we landed in Atlanta, I was decently muffled. Within an hour, we were back in the air on our way to Jacksonville, and this time, my ears did not clear. I couldn't work up a yawn, chewing gum did nothing, and when we started our approach, the pain was so bad my eyes were tearing up. When we got out of the gate and met up with Z's mom, I could barely hear, and all I could feel was throbbing agony.
Now, when your sinuses are inflamed, they have to vent somewhere. That's usually out your nose and down your throat. Mine did both, but mostly the latter. This was wreaking havoc on an already sore throat, so by the time I woke up the next morning, my ears were still stuffy, they were still in pain, and my throat was on fire. With the help of a hot bath and some more ibuprofen, I was able to get my body to a manageable level, so I was able to do some wandering around town with Z. After a couple of hours, though, it was time for me to rest again. Z's mom spoiled me, bringing me ice cream and a double-pack of DayQuil/NyQuil gelcaps to our hotel room. God bless her. However, this left me still mildly in pain and stoned out of my gourd.
Sunday was a bit better; my ears had mostly cleared, but my throat was still raw, and now I'd developed a nasty cough where everything that was going into my throat insisted on coming back up again, mostly in small green globbets. (Lovely image, I know.) Rest and medication were still the order of the day, but with enough ibuprofen (never at the same time as the DayQuil/NyQuil, of course) I was able to be functional for at least a few hours of the day.
Anyway, today, my ears were clear, and they had no problems on either leg of the flight. Still lots of drainage, though, and my throat is still raw, which still triggers some nasty coughing. I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow (or later today, from the looks of the time), so I'll get something to take care of all this. If all goes well, I should be back at work on Wednesday, and completely back on my feet before long.
Oh, and despite it all, despite not being able to do much or enjoy much of the vacation itself, I had a good time. I was able to go out a little, and I had plenty of time to spend with my Z. I'll write more later about the adventures of getting home, but in the mean time, I'm going to bomb my head out of my skull with some liquid NyQuil -- the good stuff.
Don't.
You see, it appears that on 2/6, I caught
evildennis's head/chest cold. In me, it became a sore throat and sinus infection. Both of these had mostly faded by Thursday, so I figured that I'd be good to travel. I had to be better, seeing as Z's mom had booked tickets for us a few weeks in advance to come visit her over the weekend. Friday morning, my throat's still a bit sore, and my nose and ears are still a bit plugged up (this is important; there will be a quiz), but I figured I was good to go. Took some ibuprofen to handle the swelling, and for the first leg of the trip, I was fine. Well, until we landed.My ears, being as large and nockerish as they are, are very sensitive to air pressure changes. It runs in the family (you see, being a nocker breeds true); my father has the same problem. The ascent wasn't so bad; I had gum, and I kept chewing it and yawning, and in spite of their initial plugged-up state, my ears cleared. The descent, however, undid all of this progress, and further irritated/inflamed my ears in the process. When we landed in Atlanta, I was decently muffled. Within an hour, we were back in the air on our way to Jacksonville, and this time, my ears did not clear. I couldn't work up a yawn, chewing gum did nothing, and when we started our approach, the pain was so bad my eyes were tearing up. When we got out of the gate and met up with Z's mom, I could barely hear, and all I could feel was throbbing agony.
Now, when your sinuses are inflamed, they have to vent somewhere. That's usually out your nose and down your throat. Mine did both, but mostly the latter. This was wreaking havoc on an already sore throat, so by the time I woke up the next morning, my ears were still stuffy, they were still in pain, and my throat was on fire. With the help of a hot bath and some more ibuprofen, I was able to get my body to a manageable level, so I was able to do some wandering around town with Z. After a couple of hours, though, it was time for me to rest again. Z's mom spoiled me, bringing me ice cream and a double-pack of DayQuil/NyQuil gelcaps to our hotel room. God bless her. However, this left me still mildly in pain and stoned out of my gourd.
Sunday was a bit better; my ears had mostly cleared, but my throat was still raw, and now I'd developed a nasty cough where everything that was going into my throat insisted on coming back up again, mostly in small green globbets. (Lovely image, I know.) Rest and medication were still the order of the day, but with enough ibuprofen (never at the same time as the DayQuil/NyQuil, of course) I was able to be functional for at least a few hours of the day.
Anyway, today, my ears were clear, and they had no problems on either leg of the flight. Still lots of drainage, though, and my throat is still raw, which still triggers some nasty coughing. I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow (or later today, from the looks of the time), so I'll get something to take care of all this. If all goes well, I should be back at work on Wednesday, and completely back on my feet before long.
Oh, and despite it all, despite not being able to do much or enjoy much of the vacation itself, I had a good time. I was able to go out a little, and I had plenty of time to spend with my Z. I'll write more later about the adventures of getting home, but in the mean time, I'm going to bomb my head out of my skull with some liquid NyQuil -- the good stuff.
