Down for Three Days

Last Friday I had the first inkling that I was coming down with a cold. I took my last tablet of Zicam and hoped it would go away.

Zicam is a cold remedy medicine which is new to me. You take it at the first symptom of a cold and you keep taking it until the symptoms are gone. For me, it ususally takes about five tablets, taken at three hour intervals, until the symptoms go away.

Zicam is not available in Nigeria so I couldn't just go out and buy some more.

The last two times I felt a cold coming on, Zicam helped to head it off, and it never arrived. Well, this time, there was nothing I could do about it, and it hit me hard. I was sidelined on the couch for nearly three days. A cold never hits me that hard. I kept doing a mental search of my body for anything else it could me. But all I had were the basic cold symptoms and extreme fatigue. I felt like I only had about 5% of my normal energy level.

I did eventually treat for malaria as well just because it is so often the culprit. But I really didn't have any symptoms of malaria.

On Saturday afternoon, I was alone in the house with the kids (Bayo had traveled), and I just prayed, "God, please send someone to help me." Well, at 5 p.m. a 15-year-old whom we know well, just showed up at the door. She started walking towards Lily's room, and I said, "Are you spending the night?" She said she came to do Lily's hair and to spend the night with us. She had spent about a week with our family at Christmastime and was a huge help with the kids and around the house. She ended up staying until late Sunday afternoon. She was a neat answer to prayer in the midst of my incapacitation.

I'm certainly no scientist, but this is my take on the whole matter: Sometimes I think a cold can be the body's way of saying "slow down and rest." When I kept taking Zicam, my body never had a chance to get a little sick and recuperate. Then when I eventually didn't have the medicine, my body said, "Now it's time to really rest," and I went down in a major way.

So, will I buy Zicam again? Yes, I prefer to avoid the cold symptoms, but I'll try to make sure I rest a bit more at the time.