Not the best Christmas gift (Self, F, Cold)

[Chickadee365]

     Normally I pride myself on my nearly impenetrable immune system. This past month, I watched my fellow students fall victim, one after the other, to nasty winter colds. Every class was filled with chesty, bunged up coughs and gurgling sniffles. My friends canceled plans left and right as each of them came down with their own ailments. A lot of colds, a case of the flu, a little strep throat here and there. I couldn't quite enjoy their sniffles because I felt so damn bad for those who were ailing right smack in the middle of finals week. They seemed to really be suffering. But I had nothing to worry about, right? My trusty immune system's got my back!

     In normal circumstances, it totally would. But when you've eaten nothing but pizza and burgers for a straight week and are incredibly stressed out over the boatload of assignments that you have to get done and only manage to get 8 hours of sleep over the course of 3 whole days, you kind of set yourself up for failure.

     So when I woke up with an aching throat and stuffed up nose the day of my last final exam, I was in no shock at all. But thank goodness it hit me on the last day!

     My symptoms stayed pretty much the same over the next two days. But after a long sleep on my first day home from college, the cold hit me like a sack of potatoes. I sit up in bed and immediately wish I hadn't. My nose, feeling completely stuffed up, immediately starts running, and I have to quickly thrust my hand over to grab a tissue from the box on my bedside table and pinch it to my nose to keep it from leaking down my face--gross. This immediately triggers a burning tickle in my sinuses that radiates down to my nostrils, making them flare and leak even more, and soon enough I'm sent flying forward with a loud, "huhISHHiew!" It's throaty and powerful and wet--my classic cold sneeze. Ugh. 

     Luckily I didn't have many responsibilities that day, so I was able to keep to myself like a hermit in my room. I literally spend the entire day at my computer watching Yuri on Ice with tissues under my nose, covering my fingers with it and dabbing the inside of my reddened nostrils to soak up the fluid that keeps threatening to dribble out, no matter how often I blow my nose (which is often--so often that it's starting to hurt ). It sucks big time. And there's this permanent burning tickle in my left nostril in particular that keeps sneaking up on me every ten minutes and make me gasp for a quick, hit it breath before making me fly forward with strong, damp, "hah-ISCHHiew! huhAGHSshew!"'s. These of course make me a complete mess and leave me scrambling for a handful of new tissues while I try to conceal the mess behind my hand, despite the fact that there's no one around to see my embarrassment. Still. I just feel gross.

     Today I woke up feeling no different. Just as completely sneezy and even more snotty, if possible. But here's the thing: tomorrow I leave for Christmas vacation with my family. I've been able to avoid them up until now. I wouldn't have a huge problem hiding my symptoms if not for the fact that I will have to endure a 10 hour car drive with them as we travel to visit family. 

     Right now I'm just hoping the sneeziness goes away because I'm just cringing imagining 10 hours of not being able to escape my parents while sneezing my head off and snotting all over. UGH!

Wish me luck, you guys...

[Arty]

Feel better!!!!  and happy Holidays.

[CharliesGirl]

I've got a bad Christmas cold too. I hate being so snotty around everyone; I just feel kind of guilty since I don't want to get anyone sick yet I have to be there. I'm sorry you're not feeling well! 

[Luisa39]

Bless you many times, Chickadee!

I remember when I was in college I had a cold on Christmas, and it definitely wasn't fun.  I do hope your Christmas wasn't so bad as you envisioned.  At any rate, I'm sure you'll be recovered before you know it!   

 

[Geneticist]

Feel better!! I totally know what you mean...as soon as you're able to take a breather and have a day to relax, BAM, that must be when the immune system also puts its feet up and you succumb to the cold. Happy and healthy holidays!

[Chickadee365]

On 12/25/2016 at 5:34 AM, Arty said:

Feel better!!!!  and happy Holidays.

 

On 12/25/2016 at 10:12 AM, CharliesGirl said:

I've got a bad Christmas cold too. I hate being so snotty around everyone; I just feel kind of guilty since I don't want to get anyone sick yet I have to be there. I'm sorry you're not feeling well! 

 

On 12/25/2016 at 10:26 PM, Luisa39 said:

Bless you many times, Chickadee!

I remember when I was in college I had a cold on Christmas, and it definitely wasn't fun.  I do hope your Christmas wasn't so bad as you envisioned.  At any rate, I'm sure you'll be recovered before you know it!   

 

 

On 12/27/2016 at 9:35 AM, Geneticist said:

Feel better!! I totally know what you mean...as soon as you're able to take a breather and have a day to relax, BAM, that must be when the immune system also puts its feet up and you succumb to the cold. Happy and healthy holidays!

Aww thanks you guys<3! Thankfully my immune system didn't totally fail me--I felt a LOT better after another day of rest, so the 10 hour drive was not at all as terrible as I had anticipated it would be

Hope you all had happy holidays!!