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

?

[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.