Dear Dad: Wit & Wisdom & Gatorade—Part 1

My dad has a saying—well, many sayings…and this one, like many of them, is more like a dry-humored adage:

When dealing with the common cold, you can rest up, drink plenty of fluids, and maybe even pop a few extra vitamin Cs—the cold will last about a week.

Or, when you get a cold, you can go about your business, tending to life as usual to the best of your ability while putting up with the irksome symptoms associated with the ailment—the cold will stick around for about 7 days.

In other words: A cold is a cold is a cold, and it simply has to run its course.

I tend to think Dad is right. For the average, otherwise healthy person, the body will fight the cold in a natural, steady progression of stages. For me, currently 4 days into my 7-day “sentence,” the illness has looked like this:

Day 1: Ominously sore throat

Day 1 ½: Excruciatingly sore throat

Day 2: Very sore throat (but not so excruciating), joined by stuffy nose

Day 2 ½: Hello, sinus congestion!

Day 3: Head hurt so badly I thought perhaps I should be hospitalized

Day 3 ½: Sleep is impossible; life is a fog

Day 4: Head clear, chest stuffed—coughing commences

My prediction for the next 2-3 days: More coughing, graduating from dry yip to hoarse bark; cough accompanied by increased phlegm production, followed by 1-2 days of major drainage (likely to be seen toting a roll of toilet tissue, in lieu of Kleenex box). The drainage could go on for many days after that, but the cold itself will be gone, like Dad says, after about a week.