Despatches from the sickbed

[bohemiancoast]

The sore throat that was merely irritating at the weekend turned into full-blown ulcerated tonsillitis; I've been given antibiotics but without any real suggestion that they're likely to help. What this means in practice is that I won't be coming to the Silver Cross, or indeed any other London pub, tomorrow night. green_amber, you're still very welcome to come and stay; and I trust you can find your way here? We've found your expensive Lancome makeup, by the way. Anyone else who was planning to bring me stuff or messages; stuff should go to someone who'll be at Brian & Caroline's this weekend, and messages can go here or by e-mail.

Tonsillitis tips would be welcome; an indication of how bad I feel can be gleaned from the fact that yesterday I spent twelve solid hours lying on the sofa watching UK Style (you know, shows like Ground Force, House Invaders, Bargain Hunt, Big Strong Boys, that sort of thing) while my brain slowly leaked out of my ears. My temperature goes up and down depending on how long it is since I last had a dose of paracetamol; and I no longer need a thermometer to measure my temperature -- at 100, I just feel faintly miserable but can surf the web and write e-mail; at 101 I need to lie down but can manage to watch television providing it has no element of plot or intellectual content, and at 102 I drift in and out of weird dreams in which I solve problems that actually have nothing much to do with me, like the handling of the initiation of the congestion charge or Blair's relationship with Chirac. I'm not at all hungry, but am nevertheless eathing small amounts of soup, juice and ice cream, and drinking lots of tea with honey in it and Vichy water.

Comments

[drplokta]

Don't you think you're going a bit far to get out of having to make that difficult decision between the Silver Cross, Red Lion and Barley Mow? Hope you're feeling better soon. If you don't make it to B&C's at the weekend, should stuff for you be left with them?

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Er, weren't you planning to stay here Saturday night?

It is a racing certainty that Steven & the kids will get over to B&C's at the weekend for at least some of the time, even if I'm not feeling up to it. There will be other kids there and child friendly activities for part of the time.

[adela-terrell.livejournal.com]

Hope you are feeling better soon!
Hx

[serendipoz.livejournal.com]

I always thought the best things in having tonsilitis were eating ice cream and (as real food) cream of wheat with cream and brown sugar.

(You can tell it's what's in my mouth I enjoy!)

Good luck getting better.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

Yuck! I've nothing much useful to say I fear. I had tonsillitis severely as a child, so badly they put me in the hospital an yanked them in the dead of winter while I was still sick. (However, I am reliably informed they grew back.) I was only about 4 or 5 at the time and all I remember is being miserable. When I have a random sore throat I find I like drinking sodas. It burns some at first but then seems very soothing. And I'd say if you're temp is that high you could probably use more paracetamol. Hugs!

MKK

[the-gardener.livejournal.com]

at 102 I drift in and out of weird dreams I remember a similar experience from when I had a very high temperature, when very much younger, although my weird dreams were much less coherent. You solve problems that actually have nothing much to do with me; I recall an epic battle on the stairs with, er, clouds. (I think the clouds won.)

Hope you're better by the weekend.

?

[dougs.livejournal.com]

> (If you do this, better warn PK before he snogs you.)

Did I just turn over two pages at once?

Re: ?

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

I had my tonsils out just over eight years ago, and while I still get sore throats, I've had nothing as dreadful as I used to get. However, FWIW, here are some things that certainly used to help.
1. Forcing myself to drink hot blackcurrant or rosehip tea - and by forcing, I mean making myself a new mugful pretty much as soon as I've finished the last, and drinking it as hot as I can bear it. (I don't suppose it really matters what flavour of fruit tea: they're all hibiscus, anyway.)
2. Very crisp toast made from real bread sliced fairly thick. (I know this seems counterintuitive, but it really does help.)
3. Bombay potatoes, made with lots of chilli and garlic. If you still have Witch Recipes, it's in there as "Doctor Prospero's Patent Cold Cure". Failing that, virtually anything made with lots of chilli and garlic helps - there's a chilli-garlic sauce I buy in bottles from the local Chinese supermarket, that's great on oven chips when I'm in the state of mind when cooking anything more complicated than frozen oven chips eaten with frozen green peas is beyond me.
4. Those medicinal-tasting boiled sweets - Strepsils. You can get sugar-free ones now. I think they taste vile, and I don't much like boiled sweets anyway, but they do have an astonishing effect on a sore throat: I used to keep a pack on hand when I was at uni, for tutorials/lectures when my throat hurt and it was hard to concentrate.
5. Oil of olbas. Run very hot bath. Add oil of olbas. Sit in very hot bath. (Alternatively, make yourself a steam tent with boiling water in a bowl, oil of olbas on the boiling water, and a towel draped over your head and the bowl. But I always tended to spill the bowl.) Sniff deeply.
6. Mashed potatoes with way too much garlic. (EDIT: Removed comment which proved that somehow I managed to look at bohemiancoast and read brisingamen ::still blushing::) Just nuke or boil or steam about half a pound of potatoes, and meantime chop at least half a bulb of garlic (I smush each clove of garlic and then chop it.) You can add a bit of grated cheese to take some of the edge off, or whatever else you like with potatoes. (I like mushroom soy sauce.) Mash the garlic in with the potatoes. Eat fast. Try not to worry what your breath smells like for the next twelve hours or so.


6. Mashed potatoes with way too much garlic. (If you do this, better warn PK before he snogs you.) Just nuke or
boil or steam about half a pound of potatoes, and meantime chop at least half a bulb of garlic (I smush each
clove of garlic and then chop it.) You can add a bit of grated cheese to take some of the edge off, or whatever
else you like with potatoes. (I like mushroom soy sauce.) Mash the garlic in with the potatoes. Eat fast. Try not
to worry what your breath smells like for the next twelve hours or so

Re: ?

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Tee hee! she's corrected it now. But it was, I think, the thing that made me laugh most so far this week! It has not, to be truthful, been a week full of laughs.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Steep some cloves in that tea - clove oil is a local anaesthetic.
And/or add a good dose of lemon juice, but don't skimp on the honey!

As for the fever ... as long as it doesn't go above 102 or so, I'd let it be. You're not doing anything anyway, and the fever helps kill whatever microbeasties are committing biological warfare upon your poor, afflicted tonsils.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

I know that letting the fever be makes sense theoretically, but the pain is sufficiently bad that I would be finding it very difficult to cope without painkillers; and I really, really dislike the sense of my brain shutting down. Am drinking black chai with honey, which has cloves as well as other spices in it.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Ah - pain, now that's another issue. Pain is bad!

Hope you're feeling a little better.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

::hugs::

Hope you're feeling better by weekend - or are you not coming? Let me know what you expect.

If you have a sore throat, glicerine is good.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

We've booked a babysitter, and you'll get Steven in any case -- but I'll certainly come if I feel at all up to it.

Ooo, ouch

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear you're so ill!

The last time I was horribly ill (including fever), I watched the housemate's tapes of Secret Agent. They were engaging enough to hold my interest, but I didn't care that he'd mis-taped some episodes. Have anything you've been meaning to watch but which requires a great suspension of belief? The Thunderbirds might do the trick.

Good luck, & let us know what the doctor says.

[fishlifter.livejournal.com]

For the sore throat, gargle with (and then swallow) soluble aspirin, provided they're compatible with your antibiotics: reduces swelling, reduces pain, reduces temperature. If aspirin are not allowed, gargle with (but do not swallow as vomiting will hurt as well as being v. v. unpleasant) lightly salted water.

And pl. email GLA ASAP re: congestion charge solution...

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Am downing buckets of soothing Vichy water -- the mineral water that is most likely to remind people of Alka-Seltzer! Have also been gargling with warm salt water. Could have aspirin, but dr recommended paracetamol, which is not soluble. Hmmph.

Considered, but then decided not to, photograph and design LJ icon of my throat -- which currently looks notably worse than the NHS direct picture of 'severe tonsillitis'. Assume that having this sort of thought probably means I've turned the corner.

If my fevered thoughts on congestion charging are better than the massed minds of TfL, then we're really in trouble.