Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

Well, kids, it’s hit my nose. I thought it was a straight up bronchitis, but noooooooo. Cats waited until 6am this morning (the dears), and as I stumbled in to feed them (yes, I know I’m encouraging them, but the alternative is either Maggie pulling my covers off with her claws and Jeep wailing as she paces around my head OR mad scratching and rattling at the door), I realized that I was conjested – sneezy, runny, BAD conjested. And today was the day I had decided I was “well”. I’m not well.

Coincidentally, today is the day I happened to schedule my first physical in nearly two years. As a doctor’s kid, I don’t usually go to the doctor when I’m sick. Instead, I call dad or suck it up, knowing that there is very little the medical profession has to offer for a simple cold. The only time I bother is when I’m in need of antibiotics. I was thinking this might be one of those times. Now that it’s gone to my nose, though, I think I just have to see this thing through.

Did I mention the advice I’ve been getting? No offense to each person who has given me helpful advice, but the sheer AMOUNT of advice I’ve been getting is beginning to border on the ridiculous. At this point (and again, no offense), I’m supposed to be taking Coldeez, Emergen-C, echinacea, rubios tea, honey, Zinc, and then the Neti pot. Honestly, that last thing is the most likely since it’s the one thing I’ve heard about the most over the years that people seem to swear by. But still, a virus is a virus. I’m not particularly superstitious. I know that the thing must run its course. I do have some echinacea, so I popped some just now. The rules are changing a little since I now know it’s not just in my lungs.

I think the part of it being up in my sinuses now that bugs me the most is the pressure in my gums. My gum sensations aren’t like other people’s. No, I’m not saying that just because I have some weird desire to be special. During the summer of my 14th and 15th years, I had two oral/maxillofacial surgeries. The first was a procedure to widen my palate and involved an incision that went all around the inside of my mouth at the top of my upper gums. This cut all the nerves in that area, and ever since, my sensation there is deadened and “weird”. The next summer, I had a mandibular reduction to correct my underbite, and wires went through my upper gums into my sinus area as stabilizers during the 6-week healing process. All in all, this left me with a much better bite (although still somewhat of a mess) and VERY odd sensations in my sinuses. Whenever I have any kind of sinus pressure, I can actually remember how different it felt before the surgeries, even though it’s now been 22 and 23 years since all that went down.

At least I saw people yesterday. While I didn’t have the energy for the rodeo (plus, I just went last month, and there’s only so much yee-haw fun a girl can take), I did make it to the pre-rodeo meetup for drinks and dinner. I didn’t want to spend any money, so I ate before I went and bought a $2 pint. Got outta there for $3 with the tip. Not bad! Anyway, something like 20 people from the Flickr group showed up, including a few new ones. I got my social fix, and since I wasn’t offering hugs or handshakes, I hopefully got out of there without infecting anyone.

OK, now that the “sudafed” has had a chance to kick in (I use the quotes since the meth crisis has messed with my very useful medication and rendered it only mildy helpful. Thanks, tinkering, tweaky junkies!), I’m going to try to get back to sleep.

Zzzzzz…