Too Sick To Blog?—Never! 


Jim reflects on having a cold. 

I was miserable last night. This head cold finally shook off the chains of preventative measures I had imposed and stood on my shoulders and bellowed. Darn! I began to take the zinc lozenges as soon as I could. But I had felt the first tickle in my right upper throat when I got up, and the day was so cold, we couldn't get to the store until mid afternoon. Got plenty of rest. Took extra doses of nutriceuticals. Drank fluids. I did attend a morning church retreat, actually felt pretty good.

So what was it that caused the turn for the worse? It definitely could be because I had kind of a negative mind set. Stephen has been enjoying feeding the birds and squirrels—yes, he actually feeds them from a separate feeder. He must have been outside 3 hours, shoveling snow, cleaning out bird baths, installing feeding devices. I was inside trying to put up a Christmas tree, and wanted him to spend more time helping with that. So I was a bit resentful. It definitely could have been because my colleague died unexpectedly on Thursday morning. There was a lot of sadness in the air about that, and I was picking up on it. It could have been that I overexerted myself getting the tree and trimmings up from the basement.

Oh, you scoff! Loosing patience with this self-analysis? Well, ok, you could remove my page from your bookmarks list. But wait just a minute, you could learn something, or at least be reminded of something.

The cold is no big deal. I'm not worried about it. But I am thinking about it. Because, like I said, health IS the second most precious thing in the world. Some people almost never have to worry about their health. Others seem to worry about it all the time. Everyone has his or her pet theory of good health. My pet theory is that everyone has to be his or her own physician first and foremost. Now that is grandiose, so if you pushed me to the wall, I would probably retreat to the position that at least I, myself, have to be my own physician first and foremost. I can't turn theology over to the theologians, and I can't turn health care over to the physicians. Let them do their jobs, and I'll try to find some I trust. But BEWARE, every physician and every theologian has his or her blind spots and prejudices.

So this cold is a good thing. I have avoided a major cold for a couple of years now, avoided the flu for at least five years. This cold reminds me that I am a vulnerable, human person who will from time to time have to deal with minor and major fluctuations from my preferred level of functioning. Our family physician was trained in Europe, where he learned a much less aggressive approach to treating health problems. He would ascribe to the maxim that if your natural healing forces within you don't rectify the illness, no amount of medication, surgery, or physical therapy will rectify it. So, with my doctor, I tend to focus on how to restore and maintain my natural healing forces.

Regarding colds, I have learned the following things. Controlling acute symptoms: you already knew them: rest, drink fluids, let the illness run its course. The zinc lozenges do help sometimes. Prevention: live a life of moderation (you will learn what moderation is for you), use a natural approach to diet. Regardless of what anyone tells you, you can catch and give colds from hand contact and from airborne contact. The details are complicated, but just being aware of this will help you. I DID shake hands with an infected individual last Sunday, and I tried to wash my hands, but there was a delay.

I've even read about the interesting theory that we really MUST have colds sometime, at least most of us. Because the seething myriad of microbes and viruses around and within us are constantly evolving new DNA and our own DNA has to be adjusted to compensate for this. "Getting a cold" is just another name for a process of DNA adjustment.

This morning, I relearned a lesson I find hard to learn. Long ago, I decided that I would just have to take care of myself, because it looked like if I didn't nobody else would. I got off to myself in the upstairs bedroom, and was prepared to endure and survive. Imagine my surprise this morning, when Stephen, already late for choir rehearsal, showed up on the third floor, unbidden, with a huge tray of tea, toast, apple butter, granola bar, several canisters of nutriceuticals (and specific directions for how to OD on them).

When you are sick, it definitely helps if someone who loves you reaches out to help. I think I will be better soon. 

Posted: Sun - December 11, 2005 at 12:18 PM          

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