Witchdoctor Garlic (aka: Less Sick)

I got up this morning and made my bed. First time in days! (Still not dressed, and may not bother going that far in recuperation-behavior today!)

Saturday night I put a thin layer of vaseline on the soles of my feet, and then sprinkled a thick layer of garlic powder on it, patted it into the vaseline, and put on socks. Sure enough, about ½ hour later, I could taste garlic in my mouth and smell it coming up through my lungs and sinuses. I needed garlic, and my stomach was in no condition for the amount of raw garlic I needed. So I tried the "external, through-the-soles-of-the-feet" way, and it worked. Not as well as eating the raw stuff, but certainly better than no garlic!

It also crossed my mind that external garlic might help my throat. Part of the reason for the incapacitating headaches of the last few days was dehydration. It was painful to swallow. So I sliced a nice round clove of raw garlic in half, and used a bandaid to tape the cut edges to the skin over my voicebox. That set my voice to improving faster than I dreamed possible. The biggest problem with the garlic there was removing the bandaids from the tender thin skin later. Ouch! (Hey, but less "ouch" than the sore throat!!)

Still sick, but at least I can get up and hobble around to do a load of laundry, take a rest, pay some bills, take a rest, do another load of laundry, take a rest, etc. My biggest problem now seems to be that I've injured a rib through the violent coughing. Can you bruise ribs or get hairline fractures that way? I'm remembering Maggie's collapsed lung last year because of the pain it gave her to take a full deep breath, and I keep telling myself that I do not want to go there. I gotta take those big breaths no matter how much my ribs hurt.