The power of persuasion

On Monday this week, my nephew developed an ear infection. Well, I'd been holding him when he fell asleep, and then I couldn't get him to let go of me after he fell asleep, so I laid with him on my bed, and somehow managed to slither out from under him and pry his gripping arm from my neck. Then, when he woke up, his ear hurt so much he just wanted to be held, so I spent about 2 hours holding him.

I considered washing my sheets, but figured that having held him and otherwise shared his airspace, that would be a bit pointless. If I was going to get sick, it wouldn't be from the small patch of germy sheet he created.

And inevitably, I did get sick. (I say inevitable, which I hope doesn't imply that one always gets sick after being around a sick person. I worked with 40 kindergartners for two and half years, and was rarely sick and have spent lots of time with sick kids without becoming sick). Sore throat, painful ears. Achy body. Plus side: milkshake for dinner, because I couldn't swallow anything else comfortably. Down side far outweighed the plus side. In case you wondered.

Finally, I went to a doctor, because I was afraid it was strep. The doctor came in, asked about the symptoms, if there was any sinus trouble ("no, not really, just a tiny bit today, but nothing noticeable, in comparison to the ear and throat pain"), coughing, have I been around anyone sick, and proceeded to declare his suspicion that I had a sinus infection. This was Friday night.

Up until then, sinuses hadn't really been on my radar. Like I said, I was worried it was strep. But I left the doctor's office, and it was like my body said, "Sinus infection? That's what we're supposed to be doing here? Okay, body, shift gears. Sinus infection mode!" Fortunately, nothing really with the stuffy nose, but the coughing on Saturday (which started when I went to bed on Friday night. Seriously. It was like a one hour turnaround) was so bad, my voice gave out most of the day. All that darn postnasal drip (which is a phrase that just doesn't seem right in a blog), and all that coughing gave me a killer headache. Sore throat? Gone. Ears? Fine.

All of which leaves me wondering, why is it that my body will respond to what some random doctor says in a matter of hours, but it NEVER listens to me? Honestly.

I wonder what would have happened if the doctor had said, "You are perfectly healthy, and next week you are going to run a marathon."