Today I found out Abbie has caught a cold and the symptoms sound familiar: sore throat, congestion, can’t clear her ears when changing elevations. She might have caught my cold though we didn’t even have as much as a handshake between us. No handshake, hug or any contact at all. Though we did hang in the same office together and exchange gifts and had lunch at the same table in Honokaa.
This virus must really be easy to transmit, Glennon and I got it from Travis which took about 4-5 days to affect us, it only took Abbie one day from me, if she did get it from me. Maybe it’s just something going around town.
Symptoms:
Week One: Congestion, sore throat, plugged ear passages, later a headache, runny nose, then the cough and fatigue. Slight fever.
Week Two: Sneezing, more of the above minus the plugged ears and headache. Then things get better with the cough being one of the last things to kick.
Treatment:
Robitussin DM for congestion and cough during the day, a hot toddy at night to sleep. Either take over the counter cold medicine or see the Doc if things get worse for prescription meds like I did. And needless to say get rest. Plenty of fluids. Hot showers with the steam are great. All food will taste bland for the first week or so due to the congestion. Soups and tea are good, I had chili one night with Tabasco sauce splashed onto it so I could taste something.
I took zinc supplements via Cold-Eze and Zicam but they didn’t seem to help as I’m still shaking the bug at 2 weeks + 2 days so far. Cepastat and similar sore throat drops worked well when my throat was sore and I gave Abbie what I had left.
So how about it Max? You still healthy? Never got close enough to me in Ba-Le? I think I’ll stay away until I’m fully recovered. I’ve been washing my hands often too and using either hand wipes or hand sanitizer in my car too before I step out.
They say you catch each cold virus only once in your life. Once you catch a specific virus you build up immunity to it and you never catch it again, but with hundreds if not thousands of different cold virii around we’ll always be catching colds.