Did You Know There Are 12 Types of Sudafed?

So we are now on day one thousand and four (or twenty-two, whatever) of Project: Mary Frances has a cold and spends 80% of her day blowing her nose. It really has gotten a LOT better. I no longer have a fever, my diet doesn't consist entirely of cough drops, and my head doesn't feel like it is made of lead allllll day. However, I'm still not totally well, which means I am doing my best to keep, singlehandedly, Kleenex, DayQuil, and Sudafed PM in business.

This whole "using medicine to medicate your illness" strategy is still pretty new to me since, when I was little, my Mom medicated us with Luden's cough drops, cans of condensed Campbell's chicken noodle soup, Saltines, flat Diet Coke, and occasionally, if we were at death's door, Tylenol. Tasty AND restorative. So basically: I am a cold medicine virgin. During college roommates and friends introduced me to DayQuil and NyQuil, but when I went to use them at the first signs of illness last month, I discovered that they had expired in December of 2006. OOPS. Also: typical.

When we returned to Bryn Mawr after Christmas-ing in Richmond and realized that we were both still sick, Preston and I took a trip to Rite Aid, where I was immediately overwhelmed by the thirty-five thousand options in the cough and cold aisle. Normally I choose my medicine/toiletries/wine/everything based on 1) how cheap it is, and 2) how pretty the packaging is. Which is clearly the best way to make Good Life Choices. However, on this day, since I had Preston with me, it meant that we had to read and compare every. different. option. Preston is like this--it will take him forever to pick out a new pair of shoes, but BY GOD it will be the best-priced-for-the-quality-of-that-price-range pair of shoes in the store - NAY - the WORLD. Which is handy, since, you know, I tend to approach shoe-shopping like this: OOH SILVER BALLET FLATS! LOOK HOW SHINY!

So Preston had picked out a variety of different medicines that would address my cough, headache, sore throat, congestion, sinus pressure, fever, inability to sleep through the night, etc. At that point, I was worried about cold medicines putting me to sleep, since I was still working on my last seminar paper, so I specifically purchased one medicine based on Preston's anecdotal advice that "In high school, people used to take it to get pumped up before hockey games." Naturally, said medicine put me right to sleep, since I am an old woman. Also, note to self: do not follow advice that involves the words "high school" and "getting pumped up before hockey games." SHUDDER. The other medicines he picked out, however, have worked marvelously and I spent the better part of our trip in Wintergreen snuggling with Sudafed PM.

I stopped taking any medicine last week when I had friends in town and a conference for twelve hours a day, and my body thanked me by getting sick yet again. However, as I am now no longer a cold medicine virgin, I plan on spending the remaining days of my winter break heavily medicated in the hopes that, by the time the spring semester onslaught begins in earnest next Tuesday, I will, FOR REAL THIS TIME, be better. So if you'll excuse me, I have a date with Sudafed PM. And I am kind of excited about it.