Feed a Cold...Starve a Fever...

I'm at home today in recovery...I'm told rest and fluids are what I need. Hmmm...you ask...what is her malady?

Well, my friends I have been diagnosed with good ol' tonsillitis. Unfortunately I've been through this before, and know the routine.

My symptoms started Tuesday evening, but I had other things going on and I sort of ignored how I felt. Then on Wednesday I thought it was a head cold that I had, and it was the congestion that was making me miserable. By Thursday I went to work so miserable I wanted to curl up in a ball and make everyone leave me alone. Eventually, my boss just told me to go home (with only two hours left in the work day). I went instead to the IHC (Intermountain Health Care) where the Doctor told me I had tonsillitis and gave me a prescription for an antibiotic (not pencillin).

I learned the last time I had tonsillitis that I have an allergy to pencillin. I had tonsillitis so severe that they were giving me pencillin shots each day for three days, plus making me take these monster pencillin pills. After a week on the pencillin I was starting to feel better from the tonsillitis only to break out in hives. I spent the next week taking baking soda baths for the hives and spreading that pink stuff over me to help with the itching. This really wasn't the most pleasant time in my life, but my parents helped take care of me like real troopers.

This time I'm all the way out in Utah and feeling miserable all by myself. It's okay though I've learned a few tricks about dealing with tonsillitis. For starters Children's Liquid Motrin is a miracle drug. Since it's already in the liquid form it hits your blood stream faster and gets to work numbing all the pain in the throat...BLESS this precious liquid. You wait a half hour after taking the Motrin and you can eat (soft foods of course) and talk (though I'm still not sure you could hear me) with hardly any pain. The Motrin in addition to the antibiotics is helping to speed along my recovery.

For all of you who are ignorant as to tonsillitis I found this helpful site for you:

http://www.faqs.org/health/Sick-V4/Tonsillitis.html