Steph - did you a see a Dr today to get the Rx cough meds? Because they should have thoroughly checked you for pnuemonia while you were in the office and not let you off with just couch meds if you showed decreased lung function or low oxygen saturation.

I say this because after getting badgered by 3 coworkers all laid up at home with severe step throat (apparently it's been "going around" like every other illness known to man that enters the secure, air-locked front door of our workplace) to make sure it isn't strep before patiently waiting out the rest of the misery. I did score prescription cough syrup (w/ codeine! watch me sleep tonight!) and prescription daytime cough pills.

Seriously folks, if you want the big-girl meds just tell the Dr you work for 911. They seem pretty eager to whip out the codeine when emergency services might be delayed by a wracking cough.

eta: i went to the Dr today. and the pharmacy. i think that part got ommited from my compound sentence there. might be time for another dose of vitamin I

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How else are they supposed to grow up and become POTUS?

I guess it just blows my mind. I'd heard tales of helicopter parents but I wanted to think they'd be relegated to legend or myth. Like the Yeti. Or welfare queens or trickle-down economics. Now, here it is in real life and it's sort of gross.

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Steph - did you a see a Dr today to get the Rx cough meds?

No, I just called and the doctor called me back. When I talked to him, I told him my cough was more persistent, but that's all. And the reason for that is because it was early in the morning and I hadn't been moving around much and exerting myself yet. The whole realization of oh-my-god-my-lungs-hurt came after I went to CVS to get the prescription. Just that little bit whipped me good.

Believe me, if I had realized earlier that my lungs hurt, I would have told him. But, again, I have no fever, am not coughing up green junk (actually not coughing up anything), am not wheezing or making rattly sounds in my lungs. I have this barking cough, and my lungs hurt, and I'm breathing shallowly (but that might be because I'm trying to avoid deep breaths because I cough when I breathe deeply), and I'm exhausted and achy.

If it *is* pneumonia, it's not severe, and most likely not treatable with antibiotics (because of the lack of green snot or other proof of bacterial infection). So all I would do is treat the symptoms and keep an eye on it. Which I'm doing anyway.

But wow, I really want to feel better.

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Steph, I wish you felt better! How miserable.

I had parents contact me ALL THE TIME about their child's grades when I worked at KU. Mind you, it was usually for a class I didn't even teach!

I always FERPA'd them; by law, you can't even acknowledge a person is enrolled or not without written permission, much less discuss grades.

But my god, we had a ton of helicopter parents and I was always wanting to slap them: your kid is over 18, and didn't do the work. Tell them to suck it the fuck up.

I would have more patience if this was some random, rare occurrence, some injustice with an unfair teachers, but I saw it wayyyyy too much, and basically, the vast majority of it was for kids who were fucking around, and for grade-sucking. By parents! "My kid won't keep his scholarship/get into med school/be happy unless he gets a higher grade!"

ORILLY? I guess your kid should have DEVOTED MORE EFFORT, then! @@

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Ugh, yeah that sounds incredibly sucky. breathing~ma

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There's nothing more wearing than a cough.

I will once again advocate steam. I have a steam inhaler gadget and also take long hot showers. Sometimes it seems the crap in my lungs has sort of solidified, and steam will help loosen it. The problem with it, the neti pot and the like is that when you feel bad, they all seem like too much trouble. I also always put Vick's on my chest, but I think its effect may be mostly psychological, since my mother did that for me and her mother put camphorated oil on her. It probably goes back generations, through onion poultices and mustard plasters back to a root.

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Teppy, that is pretty worrying.

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highly subjective testing indicates that nasal irrigation provides only very temporary relief from cold-related congestion, and zero relief from post-nasal drip. Sure, it flushed a significant quantity of snot out of my nasal passages, but the human body is remarkably efficient at replacing that loss. Right back to where i started in less than a half hour.

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Health~ma to thems that needs it. Ugg. I hate being sick.

A student's father just emailed me to ask for a higher grade for his son. I so don't understand this.

That is all sorts of wrong. At least it was e-mail and not a phone call. Less confrontational, I suppose. When I started at the University, my boss said "Be thankful you aren't a Professor. Nothing more annoying than a Helicopter parent. Worse than a swarm of mosquitoes!!"

The father says his son "showed improvement on the final exam." No, he really didn't.

If ya could give a grade for effort, swell. But your grades are for the work done.

I know, the standard line was given. But still. Dumbfounded.

WS &DCJ, glad to hear you got some wheels. Crossing fingers this one lasts you a long time!

There was more. But forget. Mom is visiting tomorrow for the weekend. Ugg. House isn't cleaned. But. She, being a horder, will think the place is great. Eh. There is that.

Now I just need to step away from the iTunes, as editing/fixing the metadata is the biggest timesuck there ever was. Especially when you have over 13,000 tracks.

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wow! Drama at the University during holiday break. So yesterday a ZotAlert went out (campus alert in case of problems) that was basically an APB for a dude accused of domestic violence with attempted strangulation. WTF right? This evening, an update that he was found deceased. No other details. That's some crazy shit, yo!

They should make a reality show of campus cops. Too bad no university would want that type of publicity.

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