Bugged by coughs

I finally decided to do something about that nasty cough that seems to have tightened its grip on me for the last 3 days. It's one of those allergy-induced dry coughs that literally tears your windpipe apart and leaves your throat red and raw. Lately I've been consuming Strepils (lemon and honey flavored, yum!) like it was a new food group or something.

This morning I did some online research about my cough, then walked to our nearby pharmacy. The pharmacist is something of a friend of mine. A friendship that developed at the dear price of continuously paying an arm and a leg on allergy medicines and Cortisone nasal sprays. I opened the door just as I was attacked by a string of painful coughs.

Pharmacist friend: Allergy's giving you a hard time, eh?

I managed a smile, half a nod and 3 coughs in answer.

I left with a new packet of allergy pills and some cough syrup. Syrup? Yikes. I cringed at the thought. I don't remember the last time I took syrup. Actually I do remember. I was 4 and it literally took 5 able-bodied grownups to pin me down and stick that spoonful of bitterness into my throat. I fought hard.

When I was old enough to swallow pills, I swore off syrups. And up until this morning, I felt no shame declaring to my doctors upon seeing them scribble a syrup prescription that "sorry I don't drink syrups. They taste like crap".

But today I said nothing. Maybe it has something to do with having become a teacher. I mean, let's face it, I still act crazy a lot, so maybe I felt the need to outgrow something (anything!) to get a sense of accomplishment. You know, tangible evidence of my long-overdue maturity.

I swallowed it with minimal drama (unless you count the sound effects and facial expressions). Hopefully it'll suppress my cough insha'Allah, because I don't think I can cough one more time.

I've been taking it easy this morning, since I'm still beat up from my long day yesterday. I spent 16 hours straight outside the house. Although none of them involved strenuous physical activity, I still feel every bit of me aching. At one point yesterday I did sleep on my classroom floor yet again. So that'll explain the pain in my neck and hips.

As a token of my appreciation, I had promised Ahmed to take him wall climbing, which I did yesterday. I met with him, Ms. Darci and his 2-year-old cute sister. We had burgers at Johnny Rockets, then took him climbing. It was his first time, so there was a lot of "Aaah I'm falling"s involved. But I think he had fun. I hadn't actually gone climbing ever since I posted about it months earlier. Maybe I'll go soon. I was itching to climb yesterday, but I had a skirt on (although admittedly, it served as a handy excuse when Ahmed suddenly exclaimed "oh you are laughing at me??? Let me see you climb the level 3!") .

Time's flying by. It's already 2 pm., although I feel I just woke up a while ago (which is far from the truth, since I woke up at like 6 am. or something). It wasn't a very productive morning, with the exception of preparing the beds for my friends who should be sleeping over this weekend, and making yummy muffins. Speaking of which, I think I ate one muffin too much.

What do you know, it's already time to take my 2nd dose of cough syrup. Brace yourselves people, this may turn ugly.