How to Stave off the Cold

No, I don't think I know exactly.

Here I am trying to hold one off again, only about a month after recovering from the last sinus infection. This morning I was sneezing, thinking, "where did these sneezes come from?"

By this evening the sinuses are raging. I'm chugging Emergen-C, which seems my only hope to keep this one at bay.

How do these happen? I'm pretty careful - I try to keep to clean habits as much as possible.

But I can't avoid the specific things I suspect contribute to these viral infections.

Like flying. The person directly behind me on this week's flight was coughing frequently. I was tempted, but stopped myself from looking at him for fear of seeming rude. But I wondered if he was coughing on me, and suspected he was.

Then there was the flight delay, which very nearly caused me to miss my connection. I had to hustle from the far end of Atlanta's Concourse A to the far end of Concourse D in about 15 minutes. They'd actually posted "Closed" on the monitor when I walked up, but fortunately the agent let me on. They closed the door behind me.

So I arrived at my destination after midnight, so I got maybe 5 hours of sleep, but maybe not really because I'm staying in a mini-mobile home they have the nerve to call a "Chalet". And it has a furnace that I think produces more decibels than degrees of heat.

My suspicion is that the furnace in my little "Chalet" hasn't been operated yet this year. So by me being the first to turn the thing on, it probably blew out all sorts of accumulated molds and other nasty allergens.

Perhaps I should consider myself fortunate that I don't get sick more often, given my unusual itinerant lifestyle.

I only pray this time I can duck the sinus infection or cold or flu or whatever is trying to knock me off my feet. There's nothing worse than getting sick on the road.