Well, I made it to a year!

But just barely. I wrote several months ago about my ongoing fight against bronchial infections, since I have experienced bronchitis, usually lasting weeks but occasionally months, almost every year since I was twelve (the exceptions were the first two years of my marriage, when my husband was selling antioxidants and I was taking them regularly). I started taking antioxidants again last fall with the goal to see whether or not they would keep me free of illness for a year. The year officially ended yesterday, so yes, I succeeded.

However, on Friday evening, my daughter spiked a 101 degree fever, and has been sick since then.* It might be swine flu, since the fever is accompanied by a cough, headache and body aches; I'll take her to the doctor tomorrow to know for sure. Thankfully, so far her illness seems mild.

Of course, I woke up sick this morning. I know this is probably not the case, but sometimes I think I have a latent germ that lives in my lungs, just waiting for my immune system to become occupied trying to fight off some other infection. When that happens, my latent germ takes advantage of the situation to kick into full gear. I say this because as always, I'm hacking my lungs out. I don't seem to have caught what my daughter has, since I don't have any of her symptoms except the cough.

Now the question is, will the antioxidants and such treatments as Airborne help me get over the cough quickly, before it turns into full-blown bronchitis that knocks me out for weeks or longer?

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* Being sick, my daughter missed trick-or-treating (misery for a four-year-old!), and about seven in the evening on Saturday, she started crying her eyes out. So my husband ran out to the store and bought some candy and came home, pouring it into two bowls. He and I stood in different corners of the living room holding our bowls, while my daughter carried a bag and walked back and forth between us, saying "Trick or treat!" and having us drop candy into her bag. It wasn't the real thing, but it put a smile on her face, and hubby's and mine as well.

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Condo Blues recommended a book, Practically Green, as a common sense approach to finding ways to green up your life. I'm linking her post here to help me remember to seek out the book at some point.