Reminders of My Own Human Fragility

These past two weeks have been a real rollercoaster in terms of my overall physical health. Having employment in a school provides me ample opportunities to come in contact with a large number of children in all different stages and types of sick. Fortunately I was given the opportunity to catch one of their many plagues and therefore suffer with a nasty little cold for a week. Then as the cold began to subside and be conquered by my stalwart immune system, whilst another more sinister plague made an assault. The symptoms of this sickness is one of pain and extreme discomfort regarding the lungs, throat, body aches, fever, and when a simple cough or sneeze leaves you totally incapacitated from pain for a space of time. Having dealt with something of this nature last year I found it prudent to go immediately to the doctor and get the required medications to help get rid of it as quickly as humanly possible. However he thinks it to be something else entirely. After a long and not so pleasant visit at the doctors office and an arduously long wait at the pharmacy, I was able to collapse on the couch for several hours before being helped into bed at 9 pm. Fragility

What amazes me is that the prescription and shot the doc gave me didn't really do much to help with the symptoms or my general well being. It was things I already had at home like simple cough syrup, two anti-inflammatories, and 4 hours of unmolested sleep is what did the trick. This is not to mean that what was prescribed by the doctor isn't helping in some way, but my self medicating had a much bigger impact on how I feel in a shorter time period. While I don't always condone self-medicating, sometimes a person knows a better (and less expensive) way help themselves without having the degree to prove it. I just hope that I will be able to defeat this enemy before I have to go to work Monday. If not then it will be a very long Monday.