Date: 2 March 2017. Missing Medicines.

© janice142

Getting sick is never fun. On a boat far from civilization a minor problem easily solved by a visit to a physician and pharmacy can become serious. Last month my sense of complacency was rocked, all because of a cough. That I did not have a well-stocked medicine cabinet was my fault. Here's what I did wrong:

#1) My medicine locker focused on treating injuries.
#2) Because I "never" get sick I was not prepared for illness.

Besides, life's better on the boat. Kidlet gave me that while we were at Disney.

The afternoon I returned from Disney I started coughing. Minor, nothing to worry about right? WRONG!!!
 

I could not stop coughing. Nothing helped. The standard remedies of chicken soup, tea with honey and cough drops didn't touch the cough.

Coughing hard caused my ribs to ache. An uncontrolled cough can notch up from unpleasant to down right ugly in a very brief span of time.
 

The medicine locker let me down. I didn't see anything in there that would help.

Of course today when I look I can clearly see allergy medicine. It could have helped my wet nose. That item is on the third shelf next to the two inch wide bandage. When sick it is all too easy to miss the obvious. I did this time for certain.
 

Fortunately one of my boat neighbors went to Walmart with a list of potions I thought might help. That list included cough syrup, Zyrtec or equivalent, along with a saline solution and a pain reliever. My friend bought the list and it wasn't cheap!!!

He brought back Nyquil, Claritan, saline solution and aspirin. I had not thought to add cough drops but fortunately he purchased those too. The Hall's brand cough drops tasted good but didn't do much toward abating the cough.

About a week into the illness I felt up to a trip to a local pharmacy. Sparrow on the east coast had recommended an orange flavored cough suppressant. Kidlet suggested a powder you add to hot water to make a soothing tea.

The orange stuff is Delsym. It was on sale and cost $13. Ouch. That it worked made the cost more tolerable.

I also bought a honey/lemon flavored Severe Cough and Cold powder from CVS. I continued to cough. It tasted nasty. To be fair though, nothing much appealed to me while I was sick.
 

I also switched from Claritan to the Allergy relief medicine I finally saw in my medicine locker. It's a Benadryl knock-off.

By the end of week two the coughing had abated somewhat. Though weak as a kitten I could tell I was on the waterway to recovery. I could read again!!!
 

I love my Kindle! I am reading T. Tembarom by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It is available on Amazon for free.

Frances Hodgson Burnett is best known for Secret Garden and A Little Princess. She wrote adult novels too. I have read most of her books over the years. They always bring a smile to my face. I like the gentler stories of yesterday for the most part.
 

While sick I revisited old friends. That means I read
again books I've enjoyed previously. Reading is wonderful.
 

Once fully on the road to recovery I went to the local Dollar Tree store. There I discovered ALL the medicines I'd been taking and more, and for a lot less money. That cough syrup that was $13 is available in gel caps for a buck.

These are the new improved cold cure options I now have aboard Seaweed:

Click on the photo for a full-sized version. You'll be able to read my notes better then.

Finally last Friday I felt up for a little cruise aboard Seaweed. I've missed running my girl so went over to McDonald's for an iced coffee. I told you how to enjoy those for $1 in the The Birds (ordering iced coffee) vignette.

It was such a relief to again be behind the wheel of my boat and underway. Though I did not go far I did have fun. Boating isn't always about distance covered. Often the short trips are the most rewarding.

I splurged while at McDonald's. In addition to the coffee I bought a parfait. Then I took Seaweed off the dock and anchored. I chose just west of the American Legion building. That anchorage is exposed to a long fetch but as a temporary stopping point is okay. There is a sandy bottom with good holding.

*Fetch: Fetch is the length of open water between your boat and the horizon. A short distance means winds and waves have less chance to build up. It is safer. More information on fetch can be found in the By the Shipyard article.

The cough is finally gone. It took a lot out of me. My strength is not quite 100% yet. Reading a couple of chapters while anchored near the American Legion post rejuvenated me.

Though only just after noontime the boating traffic had picked. In the morning I was almost the only boat on the water. I headed back to the dock for a nice long nap.

I wasn't 100% last Friday. I do believe I'm very close now. I am still husbanding my strength and being careful. It was disheartening to stay sick for such a long time. The days of bouncing back in a day or three seem to have passed me by.

Being aboard my home is a good thing. I love my miniature trawler and I am truly blessed. Seaweed is practically perfect, except for the items that need fixing, upgrading or installing.

How did you decide what to put in your medicine locker?
And, do you have any secret recipes for stopping a cough? What are they?

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© 2017

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