Given that we are living in a city of 20-plus million, there are bound to be some nasty superbugs spreading their way around. Our office has been pretty hard hit all winter and unfortunately it seems that I brought some of this communicable nastiness home for the holidays. Save for my son (knock on wood), my wife, daughter and I spent the entire 3-day New Year Holiday holed up at home in bed sick as dogs.
Marianne’s sickness started on Sunday and by the next afternoon she was running a fever and coughing non-stop. Things turned from bad to worse when it set in on me the next day – I was taken completely out of commission and spent the entire day Wednesday in bed. I only started feeling human again last night and am now back at work looking forward to an 8-day, post-holiday workweek (thanks, planning officials!).
In the meantime my wife deserves a medal for not only keeping it together to take care of both of us while she battles her own runny nose and scratchy throat, but also for coming up with this handy little hack to help soothe Marianne’s dry cough:
Behold the facial ionizer, which my wife had recently purchased from Taobao and had heretofore been using to hydrate her face every night before bed. Over the past few days we have discovered it can serve a second useful purpose: the steam that blows out from the top can help soothe a kid’s dry cough. Humidifiers and honey help as well, but nothing beats the combination of all three, especially when applied in a steaming bathroom with the hot water running from the shower.
One note of caution, however, the steam from these ionizers, while not scalding, comes out a little hot, so if you try this at home on your kid you should definitely be at their side the whole time make sure to keep a distance between the opening and your child’s face. Happy healing and here’s to a much healthier 2013!
