Monday, May 11, 2009

Can't. Focus. Or Breathe.

It's official.

Despite my best efforts at...what's the word...avoiding? preventing? staving off? this disease, I do, in fact, have a sinus infection. As diagnosed by me.

My symptoms: headache, sore face, stuffy nose (but no dripping).
Additional side effects: lack of...what...oh...yeah...focus, temporary heavy mouth-breathing, inability to participate in conversations, lack of focus, perma-thirst (likely due to aforementioned mouth-breathing) and AWESOME husky, nasal voice.

My Tylenol Sinus wore off exactly 8 minutes ago and my head is sorta throbbing/sorta spinning.

(...long pause while I stare at the Chick-Fil-A cow who sits above my monitor and then do a little more work on this half-page document I've been trying to finish since about noon....)

I have to sit on a series of conference calls tomorrow, where my client and I talk to reporters. Given my temporary status as an HMB (heavy mouth-breather), I'm going to have to be EXTRA aware of my telephone headset, so as not to creep out the reporters.

(I finally finish the half-page thing for tomorrow's meetings and send it off. Then I pick up the phone and call Gordy [who sits literally 15 feet from me] to ask, "Hey, did we find out if the Billy guy in Texas put that thing we had in the kits...before he sent them?" Seriously, that's a direct quote. When I heard "uhhhh" on the other end of the phone, I realized that maybe my question was not so clear and tried again, with "I mean, the poster/flyer thing...that you made for us to put in the kits that got sent out. You know, the marketing kits...or game kits." Admittedly, not much better, but functional, as it led Gordy to confirm that Billy did put the things in the kits.)

Time for more Tylenol Sinus, this time, with orange juice.

Bus home, then long walk with Pickle, for some good fresh air. Tylenol Sinus wears off again as soon as I get home. Except that now, it's almost bedtime, so I dont want to take more daytime medicine, but I'm not quite ready for bed, so I dont want to take nighttime medicine, which leaves me in a state of really vicious mouth-breathing. Deciding that I'm not going to win the "daytime medicine vs. nighttime medicine debate" at this point, I eat some leftover quiche and ramen for dinner, brew a big cup of hot tea and sit down to watch Mean Girls.

At which point, I remember that I have some "cold remedy nasal gel" in my medicine cabinet. Now while I've been diagnosed with a sinus infection, rather than a common cold, I decide that stuffy nose is stuffy nose and I'm gonna give it a whirl. So I remove the wrapper and read the instructions. I shove the thingy up my nostrils (one at a time) and squirt. Then pinch my nostrils for 5 seconds, to spread the gel around.

Due to the drying effect of the drugs and the drying effect of mouth-breathing, I've consumed more beverages than usual today. To give you an idea, here's the list (in chronological order):
  • Large mug of coffee
  • Big (32 oz) Nalgene bottle of water
  • Can of Diet Coke
  • Refill of big (32 oz) Nalgene bottle of water
  • Another refill of big (32 oz) Nalgene bottle of water
  • Another can of Diet Coke
  • Little bottle of orange juice
  • Yet another refill of big (32 oz) Nalgene bottle of water
  • Big glass of water
  • Refill of big glass of water
  • Big mug of hot tea
And if tonight is anything like last night, I'll have another big mug of hot tea and another big glass of water.

I have a giant mug that mom bought me at Marshall's (for like $2) and I LOVE it. It's the mug from which I've been drinking the multiple mugs of hot tea. It makes being sick more fun. Kinda like Fritha's heart-shaped juice cup.

Ah...the ramblings of a sinus-infected mind. Seriously...can't focus. Or breathe. And now I have a weird nostril good situation. So far, not impressed with the "cold remedy nasal gel".

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