Throwback Blog: Me Versus My Sinus Infection

Blogger's Note: Throwback blogs are blogs from my past. I start posting past blogs reflecting what I wrote. It's like my "A Second Look" blogs for which I give myself feedback.

Today's throwback blog is titled Me Versus My Sinus Infection written on Apr 3, 2011. I got Respiratory Syncytial Virus or RSV. The blog is my personal cautionary tale how I take care of myself when I'm sick. What do I do. What don't I do. Don't fight fatigue; take a nap. No NyQuil. No orange juice from concentrated. Yes to milk chocolate. No DayQuil. Yes to water; however, no eight glasses a day. No vitamin C tablets. No green tea. No cranberry juice. No pomegranate juice. Yes to Coke. Yes to fully cooked meals. No to saline solutions. No to codeine. No to Nasonex. No to chewing gum. Yes to sleep. No to Ricola. Yes to Chloraseptic throat lozenges. Yes to being calm.

Further, I minimize eating junk food. Eat healthy meals. Eat something when hungry; for example, Snickers candy bars are better than Pop Tarts.

I got a minor stomach flu after my RSV. I blogged Me Versus My Stomach Flu on Apr 14, 2011.

I wrote three more sinus infections blogs: Me Versus My Sinus Infection II on Sep 25, 2011, Me Versus My Sinus Infection III on Mar 11, 2012, and Me Versus My Sinus Infection IV on Dec 7, 2012.

The month of March I battled a sinus infection. I want to document the days I got infected and how I treated myself. I continue to fight my sinus infection as of the time I posted the blog. This sinus infection is one of the worse I can remember. I document the events by date:

February 2011. I experienced many days of fatigue. I took many naps in the afternoon. There were days I fought fatigue by avoiding afternoon naps or sleeping early and skipping homework.

Mon Feb 28 to Sat March 5. Sickness developed. I felt really tired on Sat Mar 5. I should have went home after an event in the afternoon. I took NyQuil and drank Whole Foods orange juice in the evening.

Fri Mar 4. Purchased Trader Joe’s orange juice and milk chocolate.

Sun Mar 6. Cough developed.

Mon Mar 7 to Fri Mar 11. Full sickness. I had trouble sleeping most of the week. I skipped my De Anza classes.

Mon Mar 7. Stopped taking NyQuil and DayQuil.

Tue Mar 8. Sickness got worse. I forgot to drink water. I applied Visine because I had red watery eyes.

Wed Mar 9. Took 1,000mg vitamin C, drank more coke, drank green tea, and drank 100% ocean spray cranberry/pomegranate juice once. I resumed drinking water. I applied Visine again because I had red watery eyes. I coughed mucus that included blood. The mucus cough went away at night time.

Thur Mar 10. Stopped drinking green tea. Drank more coke. Best night sleep of the week.

Fri Mar 11. Got worse. I got a bump below my right ear and above my jaw line. I researched online. Some websites stated my lymph node was swollen because it fought a foreign substance. My guess was I ate a piece of sausage partially cooked. The sausage looked cooked from the outside. I took a few bites and my bump appeared immediately. I made the choice to visit my doctor on Saturday. He has office hours in the morning all Saturdays except the last Saturday of the month.

Sat Mar 12. My doctor was closed on Saturday. I went to the San Jose Medical Center Urgent Care. The doctor diagnosed me I had a sinus infection. He prescribed me an anti-biotic. He also told me to take Mucinix D and use a saline solution.

I went to Costco to purchase my anti-biotic and a three pack of saline solution in aerosol cans.

Sat Mar 12 to Fri Mar 18. Significant improvement. I slept well all days. My cough was in control. I attended classes. I returned the saline solution to Costco because my second can failed to spray the solution up my nose. I used a squeeze bottle solution my dad had for a total of 5-7 times throughout the week. The last two times I used plain warm water.

Mon Mar 21. Post nasal drip acted up again. My guess was the cold temperatures when I was out of the house on Fri Mar 18 and Sun Mar 20 affected me. I was sensitive to the cold. I’m sensitive to hot weather when I’m healthy.

Tue Mar 22. I visited my primary care physician. He prescribed me five extra days of anti-biotic, codeine, and Nasonex. My doctor said the doctor at the urgent care center prescribed me a “powerful” anti-biotic. My doctor said sinus infection takes a long time to recover. I don’t have bronchitis.

I went to Costco to get codeine and Nasonex. I took codeine and Nasonex before I went to sleep. I went to sleep hours later.

Wed Mar 23. I chewed gum to help control my cough in the afternoon. The gum failed to control my cough when I went to bed. I started to drink warm water. I took codeine and Nasonex before I went to sleep. The cough was the worse when I was lying in bed trying to sleep.

Thur Mar 24. I stopped taking codeine. I continued Nasonex and drank warm water.

Fri Mar 25. I turned on the heater in the house to 62 degrees in the morning. I never turn on the heat in the mornings. I wore a heavier jacket and a scarf to keep warm when I’m outdoors.

Sat Mar 26. I stopped taking all medications. I started to drink Trader Joe’s hot cocoa. I continued drinking green tea and took 1,000mg of vitamin C.

Mon Mar 28. I went back to the gym for a light workout. I was still cold sensitive.

Tue Mar 29. I started my stretches before I workout at the gym. No gym, just stretches. I did 75 sit-ups.

Wed Mar 30. I slept late because I drank tea late. I coughed a lot; however, the coughing stopped immediately when I slept with blankets. I continued drinking warm water and Coke when I ate lunch and dinner.

Thur Mar 31. I stopped drinking Coke. Today was unseasonably warm. I was still cold sensitive such that the morning and the evening I wore long sleeve shirt and pants. I coughed when I wore short sleeve shirt and shorts. I went to the gym for a light workout. I coughed a little. I felt mucus dripping down my throat causing mild irritation. I was able to sleep regardless.

Fri Apr 1. I took 500mg of vitamin C instead of 1,000mg. Coughing and mucus dripping down my throat continued infrequently. Weather was unseasonably warm I brought warmer clothes in case I get cold when I’m out of the house.

Currently. Mild cough and mucus dripping down my throat continues infrequently. I have two or three major coughs lasting at least five seconds. The mucus drippings are good because mucus is moving the foreign substances away from my body. It’s treating me from my sinus infection. I can still sleep. I drink plenty of water. I maintain my thinking I’m cold sensitive.

Q&anp;A

I ask myself questions to understand and to prepare myself the next time I have a sinus infection.

What is Respiratory Syncytial Virus or RSV? I blogged RSV in March 2008. March 2008 was the last time I had to visit the doctor for a sinus infection. I heard about RSV in the news. Now that I think about it, I have RSV which is my sinus infection. My recovery took me weeks three years ago. The same is happening now. There is no cure. I had to battle and tough it out gradually going back to my normal routine just like what I’m doing now.

What was your treatment if you didn’t need anti-biotics from a doctor? I took 1,000mg of vitamin C, drank green tea, ate Trader Joe’s chocolate because it controlled my cough, drank Simply Orange, ate lots of fruit, took Ricola to control my cough or Chloraseptic throat lozenges to relief itchy throat when I slept, and drank Coke.

Ricola stopped working after the next sickness. I suspected store bought orange juice I drank this time contributed to making my sickness worse. I avoid drinking store bought orange juice for the rest of my life.

My personal treatment worked in 2009 and 2010.

What sickness do you usually get? Stomach flu or coughing with post nasal drip sinus infection or not.

Why do you blog your sinus infection? I want to reference how I recovered my sinus infection or RSV and share to everyone how I recovered.

There were days you showed improvement. Then you got worse. What do you think happened? I ate partially cooked sausage on Fri Mar 11 which I think gave me an infection that lead to a sinus infection. I failed to keep warm that happened on Fri Mar 18 and Sun Mar 20 which I think gave me the RSV. It was a double whammy.

Could you have prevented the sickness? Take naps when I was tired. Eat when I’m hungry. I remember my family and I visited Monterey. I ate little during the one day trip and I got sick days later. The symptoms were the same as my sinus infection; fortunately, my personal treatment was enough for a full recovery.

My eat when I’m hungry attitude saved my Fall ’10 quarter. I ate lots of Pop Tarts and candy bars. I believed I managed to avoid getting sick despite eating all that junk food.

Sleep off the fatigue instead of fight it.

I believe another contributing factor was my personal haircut lady at my salon. She was sneezing and had a stuffy nose when she cut my hair.

What could you have done differently? The sleepless nights coughing should have told me my sickness was serious and I needed a doctor to examine me. The doctor might need to prescribed me prescription drugs.

Too Many 5's And 6's Dice Rolls Playing Axis & Allies

Axis & Allies made by Milton Bradley Company was a board game I played in high school. I sucked. I remember there was a chance I win one game. There were five of us. I teamed up with a straight A student friend who was like the late Steve Jobs without charisma. He knew how to play the game. We were the Axis. I played Germany. He played Japan. The other three friends were the Allies Russia, Great Britain, and United States.

My friend guided me where to put my soldiers, tanks, and planes. My friend suggested where to attack, where to place my armaments, and when to save money. He wanted to win. He wanted me to win. He cared. We lost. What happened? The answer was I rolled too many 5's and 6's. I rolled too few low numbers to attack and to defend. I rolled too few low numbers to win battles. Pathetic. My friend suggested a different method to roll the dice. Unsuccessful. My fault? Yes. Bad luck? Yes.

Two of the three friends playing the Allies were smart students. They enrolled in advanced classes. One of them could bowl a 200 score. The other friend was fluent in English and Spanish.

Tabletop Gaming Curse

If there is a term for bad luck playing tabletop games, then give me the term; otherwise, I assign myself the tabletop gaming curse. I realize connecting the dots backwards bad luck factored in my losses. All games involving luck include dice rolling, drawing cards, drawing tiles in Mahjong, and spinning I experience more bad luck than good luck. The odds are in favor of my opponents. The over 50% probability are in favor of my opponents.

Likewise for my present life. I lost count the number of times I was the second choice for a job hire. There were job hires cancelled due to a director overriding the hiring manager, budget cuts, and breech of procedures not my fault. Curses are meant to be broken. I don't know how to break a bad luck curse.

There Are Stories Every Time We Breathe

Today's another too many blog reminders there are stories. There is a story every day. There is a story every second. You don't have a story every day; for example, you don't write to your parents you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I don't have a story every day. 99.9999% of the daily stories the world doesn't know. There are too many. You don't know them all. I don't know them all. 99.9999% of the 0.001% of the daily stories the world does know the world doesn't care. Almost all of the 0.001% are boring--not newsworthy for anyone's time. Feedbacks, responses, and reactions are opinions. Regardless, live your life by creating stories. Do you best to create intelligent stories.

Update On A Past Blog

Perhaps, there are stories can be another life guarantee. I wrote a blog titled My Six Guarantees on Dec 11, 2021. Benjamin Franklin said two of my six guarantees which are death and taxes. My four guarantees are everyone is weird, everyone changes, everyone has problems, and there are 24 hours in a day and seven days a week.

Emotionally Draining

The 2023 Major League Baseball playoffs saw all three teams with 100 or more regular season wins eliminated in the best of five divisional rounds. The 90-win Philadelphia Phillies defeated the 104-win Atlanta Braves 3-1. The 90-win Texas Rangers defeated the 101-win Baltimore Orioles 3-0. The 84-win Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0. The Dodgers and Orioles were the first time multiple 100-win teams who didn't win a postseason game. The Orioles were never swept during the regular season.

In addition, the Rangers defeated the 99-win Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 in a best of three wild card round. The Diamondbacks defeated the 92-win Milwaukee Brewers 2-0 in a best of three wild card round.

Full disclosure. I watched zero innings of the wild card and divisional playoffs. I'm not a professional sports journalist. I share my intuitive opinion. I believe winning 100 or more games was too hard. The 2023 season was emotionally draining. There are past 100+ win teams winning the World Series; for instance, the 2022 Houston Astros won 106 games, the 2018 Boston Red Sox won 108 games, the 2016 Chicago Cubs won 103 games, and the 1998 New York Yankees won 114 games. According to Wikipedia List of Major League Baseball 100 win seasons, 116 teams won 100 or more regular season games in a season as of the end of the 2023 season. 68 of the 116 teams played in the World Series (.586). 38 of the 68 teams won the World Series (.559). 38 of the 116 total teams won the World Series (.328).

The three 100+ win teams experienced winning emotional fatigue. The winning high was over when the postseason began. The winning feeling was over when the postseason began. Supplemental emotions or auxiliary emotions were required to reach 100+ wins. The three teams clinched a postseason spot. The 100+ wins meant nothing if the teams couldn't win postseason games. I'm sure physical fatigue and mental fatigue were nonfactors. Winning inspirations were jaded. No winning emotions feelings. No championship.

Emotional energy is unsustainable. Emotional energy depletes faster than physical energy and mental energy. Emotional energy is the easiest to achieve maximum. Emotional energy is the easiest to achieve empty. Physical and mental are more important than emotional. Skills, abilities, and knowledge are more important than feeling good. Is motivation or desire an emotional feeling? Is motivation or desire a spiritual feeling? Or is motivation or desire mental for which motivation is a state of mind? I have said motivation is more important than intelligence. I may have contradicted myself.

Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

Human Influence

Another possibility is rigged games. Las Vegas casinos and sports bookies influences the games for which the underdogs won the series.

The National League Championship Series best of seven Phillies lead the Diamondbacks 2-1. The American League Championship Series best of seven Astros and Rangers are tied 2-2. Both series standings are as of today's blog.

Full Information Acquired

A person feels good when everything is fully understood. All information acquired. The person has the knowledge. The truth is known. All lies are called out. The feeling is free. Relaxation. Relief. Acceptance. It's like small claims court television shows. The judge knows the facts. The judge issues a judgement.

Regardless, the person must keep the door open. Investigations, research, job assignments, plans, due diligence, and learning are examples. New information can be discovered. The full information is incomplete. Mistakes are made. Changes are made. New opinions are expressed. Circumstances alter the knowledge. Facts are questioned. Always keep the eyes, ears, sound, taste, and touch senses open for anything new.

Too Much Fun Is Too Dumb

Minimal brain thinking is needed for most fun activities. The purpose of fun is resting the brain. The purpose of leisure is relaxing the brain. A brain is not needed to watch TV, watch YouTube, play video games, and browse social media. There is a limit on fun. A fun life 24 hours a day is not fun. A fun life 24 hours a day is counterproductive. A fun life 24 hours a day the brain becomes dumb. Intelligence decreases by eating too much processed foods, having too much sex, and accumulating fun junk. Although, there was a Seinfeld episode titled The Abstinence where George became smarter when he couldn't have sex with his girlfriend due to mononucleosis; on the other hand, Elaine became dumber because she didn't have sex with his boyfriend to help him successfully pass his medical licensing exam.

How does a person live an intelligent life and live a fun life? My answer is fun and intelligence are the outcomes after work is completed. Work is done. Daily goals are successful. Intelligence is either maintained or increased. However, don't work to maintain intelligence indefinitely. Find new work to increase intelligence. Fun is rewarded. Furthermore, physical fitness is required, plenty of sleep is required, and financial discipline is personally enforced.

Ignorance is bliss. On the other hand, use your brain or lose your brain.

Boredom Is Better Than The Alternatives

Good health, decent shelter, books to read, a bed to sleep eight hours, good intelligence, and no debt. These are boring. These boring are better than alternatives. The alternatives include bad health such as chronic sickness, shelter too cold during the winter, illiteracy, less than six hours of sleep, poor mental comprehension, and rolling debt into debt.

The assignment is complete. The project is final. *fill in the blank* is successful. The task is finished. Take everything one at a time. The process is not boring looking back. The process is not boring connecting the dots backwards.

Boredom is better than doing nothing. Motivation is not boredom. Motivation is better than doing nothing.

Update On A Past Blog

I posted my Inspiration Cheer Up on my webpage. Click Inspiration Cheer Up File to download the .pdf format. The file is as-is with explicit edits. I mentioned the Inspiration Cheer Up at Why Do I Pray? on Aug 3, 2014. I mentioned reading the Inspiration Cheer Up is part of my spirituality at My Spirituality Discovery on Jan 11, 2015. The Inspiration Cheer Up is my personal bible.

Some Poor People Wake Up Early To Get The Worm

The early bird gets the worm is a common life wisdom. Some successful people believe poor people sleep late at night and wake up late the next day. Some rich people believe poor people are lazy there's no need to wake up in the morning. The sleep late and laziness are incorrect.

Money is a motivator. Lack of money is also a motivator. Some poor people wake up early to get the sale. Some poor people arrive early for assistance. The early bird gets the worm applies to all people. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, coupons, limited supply, grand openings, pandemics, and YOLOs. It's life.

Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog September 2023

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. COVID-19 positive rates increase. Mask mandates are coming back. People tired of the summer heat are looking forward to cooler weather.

Mon Sep 4. First lady Dr. Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time. Mild symptoms. President Joe Biden tested negative. The first lady was isolated at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The first time Dr. Biden tested positive was Aug 16, 2022.

Tue Sep 7. Watched the fourth quarter at the five minute mark of the first 2023 NFL season game Detroit Lions at Kansas City Chiefs.

Fri Sep 8. Shopped for books at Books, Inc.

Sun Sep 10. Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted no huge hospitalization and death rates given the recent increase in COVID-19 infections. Fauci said the chances are low because of vaccines and immunity. Fauci was formerly the White House pandemic adviser. He's currently a professor at Georgetown University. Fauci doesn't believe the government imposes mask mandates.

Mon Sep 11. The Food And Drug Administration (FDA) approved updated COVID-19 vaccines Pfizer-Bio N Tech and Moderna which targets the omicron variant XBB.1.5. The two vaccines are approved for people age 12 and older. The two vaccines are approved for emergency use for children age 6 months through 11 years old. These vaccines use messenger RNA which teaches cells how to make proteins triggering an immune response against COVID-19. The vaccines don't target the current dominant variants; however, the vaccines provide protection against the current dominant variants. EG.5 or Eris is the dominant strain mutated from omicron or a descendent from omicron representing 21.5% of all cases. XBB.1.5 is declining.

Vaccine manufacturers sell their vaccines to private markets instead of the federal government because the US COVID-19 public health emergency ended in May 2023. Private insurers and government medical programs such as Medicare pay for the vaccines. 17% of the US population received the Sep 2022 booster according to the Center For Disease Control (CDC).

Wed Sep 12.The CDC approved the latest COVID-19 vaccines for people age 6 and older.

Shopped at Lucky supermarket.

Sat Sep 16. Shopped at Lucky supermarket.

Tue Sep 19. Shopped at Lowe's, Costco, and The Home Depot.

The CDC reported hospitalizations increased 7.7% from 19,068 in Sep 9 to 20,538. The last time hospitalizations reached 20,000 was Mar 2023. Hospitalizations was 150,674 on Jan 15, 2022 during omicron.

The Sonoma County health officer Dr. Karen Smith ordered health care workers who work with patients to wear face masks starting Nov 1, 2023 and ending Apr 30, 2024. The facilities affected include hospitals, clinics, and any indoor patient care building.

Wed Sep 20. American households can receive at-home COVID-19 tests for free. Each household requests four free tests at covidtests.gov. President Biden said the administration provided $600 million for 200 million more COVID-19 tests.

Thur Sep 21. The federal government isn't paying for the COVID-19 vaccine. Some people said their insurance isn't covering the $125 to $190 vaccine cost. One suggestion is contact the insurance company for a reimbursement. The federal government can pay for the vaccine for people who pays a co-payment or for the uninsured with the Bridge Across Program for 2023. Some counties offer free vaccines at clinics for those who qualify. COVID-19 vaccines should be covered by insurance.

New masking orders in the Bay Area. Masks are required for all health care facilities except for children under 2, people with pre-existing medical conditions, hearing impaired, or wearing a mask creates a work risk problem in Santa Clara County. Masks are required for all health care facilities and jails in San Francisco County. All people in health care facilities must wear masks in Alameda County. All health care workers in all health care facilities must wear masks in Contra Costa County; however, patients or visitors don't need to wear masks. All people in health care facilities must wear masks starting on Nov 1, 2023 in San Mateo County. Masks are required for all health care facilities, homeless shelters, and jails in Marin County. Napa County and Solano County follow the mask mandate state guidelines.

Sat Sep 23. Quick errands at O'Reilly Auto and Chevron.

Mon Sep 25. A scientific research published in Nature found differences in blood for long COVID-19 patients compared to non-long COVID-19 patients. Long COVID-19 patients have lower levels of the cortisol hormone. Cortisol makes a person feel alert and awake. Long COVID-19 is a biological illness. 18 million Americans experience long COVID-19 in 2022 according to the CDC.

Merck's antiviral drug Molnupiravir can cause the virus to mutate. The drug was one of the first available to doctors. The drug weakens or destroys the virus and reduces the amount of COVID-19. However, COVID-19 can survive treatment resulting in mutated versions spreading to other people. Molnupiravir is sold under the brand name Lageviro. There is no evidence the drug produced more COVID-19 variants. The study was published in Nature journal. Worldwide sales dropped from $1 billion in the third quarter of 2022 to $200 million in the third quarter of 2023.

Wed Sep 27. The Department Of Health And Human Services announced medical insurance companies pay for the latest COVID-19 vaccine. The companies said technical problems caused their clients to be charged for the vaccine.

Thur Sep 28. Masks are mandatory in hospitals and nursing facilities in Marin County starting on Nov 1, 2023 and ending on Mar 31, 2024. Children under the age 6 and people with valid medical reasons are exempted. Masks are recommended in medical clinics and outpatient health care settings.

Fri Sep 29. Shopped at Smart & Final and Costco. There were more shoppers at the 10am hour. More people wore masks.