The Over-the-Counter Olympics
🌼 Date: Saturday, February 28, 2026
⚡ Energy: Running on Fumes and Cold Medicine
❤️🩹 Status: Officially Sick of Being Sick
😷 Outlook: At This Point I’m Open to Witchcraft
Today was another sick day.
No adventures.
No outings.
No brave treks to Mexican restaurants.
Just me… at home… working my way through what I’m fairly certain is every over-the-counter cold and cough medicine known to mankind.
So far, the lineup includes:
• Alka-Seltzer Cold
• Theraflu
• NyQuil
• All of the Vicks tricks known to every grandma
• And a thorough sinus excavation courtesy of my trusty neti pot
If there’s a pharmacy shelf somewhere, I’m pretty sure I’ve sampled from it.
At this point my body probably has a light citrus-menthol aftertaste.
The neti pot situation deserves its own special mention.
There is something incredibly humbling about voluntarily pouring warm salt water through your sinuses while standing over a sink wondering how your life choices led you here.
But when you’re sick enough, dignity becomes negotiable.
Honestly, I’m not sure what’s left to try.
Maybe:
• more hot tea
• chicken soup – the vegetarian version
• standing outside under the full moon
• waving sage around the house
• or just surrendering and becoming one with the couch
The good news is I’m still staying tucked safely inside my little recovery bubble.
The bad news is the germs apparently RSVP’d anyway.
So, today’s accomplishments include:
• Hydrating
• Meditating (mostly accidental while staring at the wall)
• Perfecting my couch-nesting technique
• And continuing my quest to find the magical potion that makes this nonsense go away
Recovery from cancer is already a marathon.
Adding a cold on top of it feels like someone decided the marathon should also include a surprise obstacle course.
But I’m still here.
Still resting.
Still healing.
Still experimenting with cold medicine like a slightly desperate amateur pharmacist.
Eventually something has to work.
And if it doesn’t… I still have my homemade whiskey cough syrup.
Desperate times.
💗 Tina –
One Badass Day at a Time
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