I Am So Ill I Can Hardly Speak - Jane Austen, Persuasion

“I bought NyQuil, Kleenex and orange juice,” I sniffled into the phone.  “Sounds like a party,” my helpful husband, Bobby, quipped.  I’ve been sick for a week.  Other than quick excursions to the dollar store for the above supplies and a treacherous, snowy drive to the grocery store, I confined myself to the house for almost a week. Those short outings felt like huge accomplishments, especially since all I wanted was to tuck myself back in bed or prop myself up on the couch for the duration.

While my cold wasn’t the worst I’ve had, it hit me hard in the lethargy department. I didn’t really want to do anything.  But I still had enough wits about me to try and fend off the pesky germs. 

Here’s what happens at my home when someone’s sick:

As quick as we notice a sniffle or sore throat, we drink the dreaded “feel good drink.” It’s the opposite of delicious but has become our go-to cure all. You heat one cup of water, add a tablespoon of honey, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, two drops of Thieves essential oil and two drops of lemon essential oil. The first taste will be a doozy but keep sipping. If done early enough, this almost ensures no sore throat not only for this cold, but for most of the cold/flu season. Hit yourself with another cupful a couple of times a day, morning and night is a good idea. It’s magic.

My friend, Heather, swears by Zicam. So much so that she hands the swabs out to employees and friends saying, “The first one’s free.” I heard such Zicam praises from Heather that Santa delivered boxes of Zicam nasal swabs to my family’s Christmas stockings. Just after drinking the “feel good drink” this week I opened my own Christmas Zicam. It didn’t help as much as Heather promised it would.  Later, she told me I have to keep using it, like every three hours, for a day or so to get the full cold-shortening benefits. Oh well, next time.

I’m an essential oil diffuser newbie. So, I probably didn’t keep the diffuser going as long as I should have. But I did spend some time sitting by a steady mist of Thieves and lemon essential oils, breathing deeply the scent of what I hoped would be good health and healing.

My son, Allen, presented me with a box of chamomile tea after a trip to Germany. I don’t know that German chamomile is any more potent than chamomile tea bought in the U.S. But seeing the “Kamille, bio” box with little white chamomile flowers on it and trying to make out the German directions and descriptions makes me smile. That’s got to count for something. Plus, a steaming mug of chamomile is very soothing. That’s why the Germans put chamomile tea in the bottles of their fussy babies.

Nicole is my friend who I consult for all things medical.  Her sons were sick about the same time I was.  When I asked what she was doing for them she replied, “Nyquil, zinc and vitamin C.”  It was right after I spoke with her that I made my trip to the dollar store.  While I didn’t get the zinc, I did get OJ and Nyquil, day and night.  Though my husband thinks I’m having cold delusions, I promise the Nyquil daytime formula makes me sleepy.  I kept taking it as long as it lasted and enjoyed those daytime and nighttime ZZZs hoping it was promoting some super immunity.

Then, I brought out the big guns. Probably more soothing to me than even German chamomile tea is Jane Austen.  The boys in my life don’t understand or appreciate how comforting a Jane Austen movie can be.  But, man, are they missing out.  

I started my week with Mansfield Park.  I used to have two versions of this classic, but alas, I broke one of the DVDs, the one where Fannie Price is quite smart and headstrong.  I followed Mansfield Park with Persuasion, sepia and misty and romantic.  Then, I watched the Gwyneth Paltrow version of Emma and the Emma Thompson version of Sense and Sensibility.  I watched Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and got part way into the long, PBS version of Emma before realizing I felt better.  

While I’ll still finish Emma and will probably move on to the long, Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice in days ahead, I don’t feel the need to lie on the couch for long periods of time anymore. My movie watching is now interrupted by errands and meetings and cleaning out the garage instead of nose blowing and refilling the diffuser and taking another dose of cold medicine.  

When that starts to happen, I know I’m better.  It may not be scientific, but it works for me.