"Lots of rest, liquids, and take your vitamins!"

PLEASE do not let me offend anyone here - this is NOT my intention! Just HAVING been sick the last week and a half and having so much WONDERFUL advice by WONDERFUL people trying to help me get better has maybe left me a little sensitive to the topic? AND I just noticed something on facebook and HAD to comment on it! hahaha

But WHAT THE HECK is it about us that makes us HAVE to fix something if it's broken? But really, that's not even TRUE! HOW LONG does it take you to get around to changing that burnt out light bulb, tightening that screw, rotating your tires or goodness...any NUMBER of things that need to be fixed? And then as soon as it's a PERSON who's broken....

EVERYONE IS AN EXPERT!

And that person MUST BE FIXED IMMEDIATELY.

So there's been a LOT of back and forth over Facebook this week so far about me being sick and how so many others in the cast are coming down with various ailments (I REFUSE to take credit for ALL of them - they canNOT possibly ALL have stemmed from MY sniffles!). And it's been HILARIOUS - these people are absolutely fantastic and I LOVE that I've had this amazing chance to not only meet but get to know so many of them! What a treat!!

So we're posting back and forth and inside out and backwards and all this lovely stuff and listing off everyone who's sick. And my one fantastic, new pal posts a LIST of everyone she knows who's sick in the cast.

And gets this comment:

"just like a virus - extra Vitamin C, liquids and rest"

Dear woman who posted this response:

DUHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

I mean COME on, REALLY? REEALLY?? Do people REALLY think that I (or anyone else) REALLY don't know how to take care of a cold? Do you think that a prescription of liquids, rest, and overdosing on vitamin C is a NOVEL idea?? I mean, come on!! We've all been downing extra orange juice (and now YOLI! hahaha), taking chewable orange-flavoured vitamin C tablets, and getting as much extra rest as possible since we were all KIDS following our mothers' how-to-eradicate-a-cold regimen.

And I don't know about everyone else, but it sure as heck doesn't make any difference for me! I'm going to be sick for as long as I'm going to be sick for, and I'm sick often enough to know that this is true! It doesn't matter if I overdose on vitamin C, drink Niagara Falls, or sleep all day. Doesn't matter if I'm downing Buckley's or sucking on Halls. It doesn't matter if I start taking echinacea before, after, or during my symptoms, standing on my head, or hanging out the window. Oil of oreganol does nothing but make me want to gag and sting my sore throat a little going down. Ginger tea is soothing on its way down, but THAT'S IT! When I'm sick I'm sick and I'm sick so there's nothing to be done about it. Doesn't matter if the good ol' doc swabs my throat and puts me on some pricey medication, or if I get a chiropractic adjustment to stimulate my immune system, or I dance the hokey pokey and turn myself about. My cold's going to last as long as my cold's going to last.

SOMETIMES I'll get a new suggestion, like I didn't know you can take ColdFX once your cold has already HIT (though I need to do some research and find out what the heck is IN that stuff before I decide if I'm going to try it next time around) and have learned you can take it while you're sick and for some people it helps clear it up faster. I'll be GOBSMACKED if it makes a difference in me but there ya' go.

So WHY oh WHY do we all ALWAYS offer this ridiculous, everyone-already-knows-it, USELESS advice?? I'm SURE I do it, too!! "Oh, you have H1N1? Dance a jig while singing a sea-chantey and it'll clear up A-Okay just as quick as can be!"

My FAVOURITE, though, was at the dress rehearsal, where I didn't participate, I just sat in the back, feeling like death, and watched. There was a friend I don't see all the time at the rehearsal to take some pictures and I went to say hello, keeping my distance just in case I was contagious, and another woman upon overhearing my ridiculously weakened "hello" said, "Oh! You have strep throat! Have you been to the doctor? That sounds like strep throat." Like there was NO question.

Ohmigosh, seriously? And where's YOUR medical degree? From the university of voodoo witch-doctor hearing diagnoses? PLEASE!

PLEASE, again, I hope not to have offended anyone - I REALLY REALLY do appreciate the care and concern - I just think I'm a bit hypersensitive to it at the moment being so engrossed in it and I got to thinking about...what the heck is it about us and our society that makes us DO that? hahaha And SOME of it really is that ridiculous. hahaha

When you get sick be on the watch for my "drink plenty of fluids, get lots of rest, and drink some Yoli!" suggestions! ;) I'm sure they're forthcoming!