Immunity Tea

Yesterday I felt a flu coming on. I did a search to see if there was anything that could be done about it and came across a recipe for Immunity Tea. The writer claimed if you drink this tea, your symptoms for a cold or flu will be greatly reduced and would be the difference between staying home sick and feeling like hell or going to work with mildly annoying symptoms. I had to try it. With the daycare kids coming over and Bob going to work, I needed to find a way to get through the day. Plus, my great-grandmother was a huge fan of garlic and onions, eating them raw to maintain her immune system. She was never sick apparently. My dad eats tons of fresh garlic and I've only seen him have the flu once in my life.  It was definitely worth a shot.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 1 Garlic Bulb
• 2 inch piece of Ginger
• 1 Lemon, juiced
• 3 cups Chicken (or Vegetable) Broth
• Honey to taste

After bringing your broth up to a boil, add in the lemon juice. If you have a submersible colander,put your chopped up ginger and garlic in it and place in the boiling water. I didn't have that, but I did have a bunch of tea infusers and those did the job quite well. The recipe said to reduce the pot to a simmer for 15 minutes, but I did not read the recipe properly. I let it go for a full boil for 15 minutes. The end result was 200ml of very potent tea.

I mixed in a tablespoon of Buckwheat Honey and poured out two cups. Bob isn't sick, but I told him he must drink it for preventative measures to see if it actually prevents him from getting sick. It smelled good to me, but Bob didn't agree. It tasted like an Asian stir-fry sauce, very salty, and adding more honey didn't help the flavour. It was kind of like drinking soya sauce or terriyaki sauce. I brought out fresh pineapple and strawberry slices so that we could have a chaser to help us get the tea down. It worked well and actually complimented the tea nicely.

My symptoms before the tea were:

• Muscle pain in my lower back, shoulders, and neck
• Sore throat
• Migraine
• Nausa

I know my body and things were about to get worse before they got better. I could just feel it. I brushed my teeth and tongue very well after drinking that tea and tried to get some sleep. I was tossing and turning and freezing and sore. I made Bob go into the storage locker beside our apartment and bring out all these extra warm blankets and crank the heat up. I slept for 2.5 hours, waking up at 2am.

I was very, very dehydrated. I could feel the cold water splash down my throat and hit my stomach. I know some people like that feeling, but I do not. It's very uncomfortable for me and I'm not used to that feeling. I ate some more fresh pineapple and strawberries and went to the bathroom. Let's just say my number 2 was more akin to a number 1, but it was a one time deal.

I wasn't sick to my stomach anymore. I felt thirsty and hungry which I think is a sign of being more well than ill. I kept down the fruit and the thought of throwing up never crossed my mind. My back pain and migraine are not extreme as they had been before. Neck pain is still brutal. I drank a large chocolate milk and the dairy did not affect me negatively at all.

I've been awake for almost 3 hours and watching TV for an hour didn't lull me to sleep like I wanted it to; that's why I'm blogging so damn early in the morning. I'm going to try to go back to sleep now and see how the rest of the day goes. Bob bought some "real" flu medication for me to take in the event this tea isn't all it's claimed to be. I may make another batch this afternoon, though, I will reduce the amount of Chicken OXO I add to the water. I found it to be way, way too salty, but I also condensed the hell out of it, so that's probably why it was like that. Live and learn. (Though drinking 100ml is way more manageable than a cup and a half! I don't know if I could drink that much! Maybe I'll just boil the hell out of it again and use less OXO.)

If you feel even the slightest inkling that you're about to get sick, I highly recommend this tea. I didn't think it was as nasty as Bob did, but you be the judge. I'm not totally cured or anything, but I feel like it's safe to open up the daycare and that I'll be able to do my job properly without breaking out into a cold sweat and passing out. This will probably be the shortest flu I've ever had!

Home-Made Cough Syrup

It's 11:00 at night and I'm very sick. Not as sick as I was yesterday, throwing up, cold-sweats, and dried up like a raisin, but my neck is stiffer than an adolescent's erection and I've got this dry cough that won't quit.

I look for some cough syrup. I can't find any. I know, let's make some!

I find a simple recipe online and start to throw it together. I need to can it to preserve it better, so I get some clean baby jars I've saved and begin the process of sterilizing them. The fucking stove catches on fire! Yeah, I haven't cleaned up in a while.

It was a small fire and I doused it with just one cup of water. The smoke detector didn't even go off.

Now it's almost 11:30, I'm still trying to sterilizing the jars and I'm totally exhausted. I caught this bug from one of my daycare kids. Thankfully 2 of them are still sick and aren't coming in tomorrow. I'll just have the 4 year old and my baby for the third straight day.

I had to call in reinforcements for Monday and today. I just slept and fasted for 2 days. I knew I was feeling better when I had a bit more energy despite having not eaten anything. I actually left the house and went grocery shopping. It felt good to get some exercise and fresh air.

Nobody is coming to help me tomorrow and I really hope I can make through the day. Netflix is a miracle time waster for children and adults alike, but not being able to nap is going to be tough I think, especially since I'm not going to be getting a full 8 hours tonight.

Moment of truth: This home-made cough syrup tastes like... super sweet, yet sour syrup. It's mostly made out of honey with some olive oil and lemon juice mixed in.  Here's to hoping I can fall asleep before midnight and that my cough stops.

EDIT

I took 3 tablespoons of my home-brew, which didn't work,  and 2 hours later I completely lost my voice and felt worse than I have all week. I didn't get any sleep and Bob had to stay home to help me because I was exhausted.  He's also sick.

I can't wait for this virus to be over with!

I'm Probably Dying

I think I'm depressed or something. Tomorrow I will have had 5 days off in a row and I was sick, sick, sick, for all of them. Why do I always get sick during long weekends? It's just not fair.

Day in and day out I'm confined to these 4 white walls never able to do anything about it. I finally get nearly a week off and I'm stuck at home anyway because I'm too sick to leave the house! I just can't believe it.

None of the house work got done over the weekend. I still feel too weak to clean up much. I slept about 2 hours total last night and I'm not going to get any sleep during the day today for obvious reasons.

My sinus's are killing me and it's hard to breathe. I've gone through 3 boxes of tissues. My ears are ringing, my whole body aches, especially my head and neck. Last night I was sweating one minute, shivering the next. My thirst has been unquenchable for days. My skin, eyes, lips, and mouth are bone dry. I actually woke up with no saliva in my mouth this morning. I could barely swallow. I felt feverish, but didn't have a fever.

I loathe taking pills, but I've tried sinus medication, ibuprofen, expired ephedrine, and herbal sleeping pills. Nothing has worked. I cried for hours last night, exhausted, and a little scared. It felt like I was dying. That feeling of not getting enough air is really freaky.

Tesla's so easygoing, she'll jump in her exersaucer for hours, but I feel guilty ignoring her all day. I'm doing less than the bare minimum. She's fed and in a clean diaper, but that's all I've got. She actually took her morning nap on the living room floor because I didn't have the energy to go through the whole routine properly of reading a story, singing a song, rocking, and placing in her crib with the mobile on. When she started fussing to be put down for her nap, I threw a throw blanket on her and she eventually put herself to sleep.

I can't be like this for when the daycare kids come on Wednesday. I've got 30 hours to rid my body of all toxins and heal myself of this horrible illness.