aNATomy of a cold

Sigh, it is the middle of the night and I can't sleep.
I have the beginnings of a chest cold and/or sinus infection.
It is from post nasal drip. I can feel exactly where the mucus from my sinuses has drained and formed a gross and sticky pool of congestion right at the bottom of my throat, right where I imagine my bronchial tubes begin. See the picture?
See the bottom part of my neck?
Right there, right above my collar bone.
No, over there, on the right side, behind all that skin.
That is where the goopey mucus is.

And I know it could go either way and there is nothing I can do to stop it. It might sink further in my lungs and become bronchitis or it might make it's way back up into my head so I can look like someone punched me in the face and feel like my head is a stuffed with cotton and then I am all dizzy and have a full on sinus infection. Or it could do both or it could just stay like this for a few days and keep coming back until June. I am not, in fact, an ENT specialist, but that is how it has gone in the past.

I guess grass is blooming. I am allergic to 7 kinds or grass--or something like that--and whole bunch of other stuff too. I got to have that really fun allergy test when I was 18 where they stick trays of needles filled with allergens in your back and then once your back is all bubbly from the wheals--that you are not allowed to scratch-- they then inject into your arms more allergens. It is a really fun and delightful test and you get to be really itchy for several hours with bumps all over you. I highly recommend you doing it so that you can know exactly what you are allergic to. Because it is important to torture yourself to find out what you pretty much already knew since for the most part you had already figured out through real life trial and error what you are allergic to.

Last month when everyone else suffering because of the ridiculously high pollen count I was not because that was trees. I am not allergic to trees--just grass, mold, dust mites, cats, dogs, horses, fin fish, codeine and penicillin. But I knew I would get mine come April or May so I was not smug at all and doled out sympathy for Ryan, Carmella and Beau and everyone else who was all miserable because of the the yellow dusting that coated all of metro Atlanta.

And I know I could some what avoid this if I would not run outside as much as I do--as has been recommended to me by several doctors-- or maybe even if I hadn't spent all day laying and playing and sitting in the actual grass at the park on Sunday. You know, looking back, when Meme offered to share her blanket with me and I declined saying I was fine laying in the grass reading my magazine maybe I should have used a little more common sense and taken her up on her offer. Oh well, at least the kids had fun (and are not sick)--especially Beau and his kite. He flew that kite for almost 4 hours straight. There was almost no wind, so when I say "flew"; I mean he ran in circles for 4 hours.
Carmella flew hers too, for oh, about 5 minutes and decided it was way too much work. She is more of the stand there and hold the kite string type.Ryan is like that too. Me? I'm not so into kiting. All the damn stings getting tangled piss me off--not to mention the kite fetching.

Carmella decided to stick with climbing on the playground and baseball with Daddy and Uncle Pat and baby Pat.

Though baby Pat more just carried the bat and chased the ball.
Beau tried his hand at the bat too.
But decided that the kite was really more his thing.
So anyway, I am on my way to having a cold. I can't wait til I start coughing up all this thick and goopey mucus. Seriously, because it hurts like hell just sitting here clogging up my throat. Not to mention it makes it rather difficult to breathe properly and comfortably. And I guess that my long run isn't going to happen tomorrow. I mean it could but seeing how I have no idea when I will get back to sleep and I already can't breathe very well running 20 miles doesn't seem like the smartest thing to do. Though, I think we all know by now that I don't always do very smart things.