sick and tired (journal)

4 March 2007
I woke up this morning feeling kind of icky, but within an hour I felt like I was going to die. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I did feel really horrible. Like I had bad bronchitis or possibly pneumonia again. That kind of sick where all you can do is cry. So bad. Stuart was very helpful, putting the laundry up to dry and lying with me for a bit. Audrey made me a really sweet get well card, too. I was real worried about our trip to Ha Noi tomorrow. Mrs Hanh was very worried, too ("Teresa coming hospital!") so I told her what the problem was--very tired, hard to breath, and my chest was hurting. She said she had been sick this week, too, and said it was the same for her. I have a disgusting cough to go along with it, though. I've been dealing with this cough since before Tet [I still have the cough.]

Anyway, Mrs Hanh assured me that she had some medicine for me. At this point, I'm willing to endure being scraped with a silver spoon if it might make me feel better. She went back home and brought a little square packet: "Meko coramin" and "Mekophar." No idea what that means, but I'm desperate, so I took the square tablet, as directed by Mrs Hanh: Place it on my tongue and let it dissolve slowly.

Pauline took the kids out for a bike ride (with helmets, as always) and let me rest plus chat with Lee for a bit. It was super nice of her. The night before we'd joked that we looked like a happy lil' family at the coffee shop: Dad, Mom, two kids and Grandma. Today she acted like a grandma, taking the kids so I could rest. So very sweet.

Within about an hour of taking/eating the tablet, I was back to 80%. Felt so much better Seriously amazing. The pain in my chest was gone and I no longer felt an intense desire to cry myself to sleep. Ah, the joy of unknown meds. ha!