I came down with a fairly nasty sinus cold shortly before the first day of work at my new job. I managed to weather it out until, last Monday, I thought that all was better. Then I got a sore throat again. It seems that things migrated down to my chest. I’ve been coughing and having chest congestion since then. Now I’m taking Robitussin DM to try to clear things up. So I’m at about 3 weeks here and counting. I really hate going to the doctor / medical centres, and the last thing I want is to take antibiotics if it will go away on its own without them. So, I’m going to hold out a little bit longer and hope that it does goes away. I suspect, however, that if this lasts for another week I’m going to have to do something – if for no other reason than that I need to get better so that I can start talking on the phone by next month for my job.

In addition to everything else, I got one of my “infamous” nosebleeds last week. I’ve had these ever since I was a teenager, about once every year or two. It’s like somebody just turns on a faucet and the blood starts pouring out. Once I get to it, I normally have to sit around for 20 minutes or so until it stops. It will also normally happen again another couple of times in the following week. Well – having it happen while in the middle of a cold wasn’t the kind of situation I would have earmarked for it, if I’d had any choice. It’s gone on longer than a week now, and has happened more times than normal. All because of my need to have to blow my nose and remove “sinus waste” in other ways. Irritating my nose like that isn’t conducive to the healing process, and my nosebleeds have continued – although, thankfully, not to the same extent as when they first started.

In general, I’m feeling pretty good now except for the cough and a kind of sub-level sinus headache that I’m still getting now and again. I do, however, feel the worst when I wake up in the morning. (I also seem to get most of my nosebleeds when I get up in the morning, or in the middle of the night, as I move from a prostrate position to a vertical one.) Lying down doesn’t help anything drain – I end up with a stuffed up nose, tight chest, and runny, crusted, red eyes. Once I’ve got up and been standing or sitting for about half an hour I feel much better. (Michelle was pretty horrified one morning when she saw me immediately after I got up – even though that day, after I was up and about for a while, I felt much better than I had in a while.)