I was thinking of that old Friends episode this morning where an ill Monica tries to seduce Chandler. He is repulsed until she finally gets him when she invites him to help spread on the Vicks Vapo Rub. I didn’t get the attraction and I have never used the stuff.
Staying at a friend’s house, I’ve managed to catch a cold from one of their germ bags. .. ahem.. . . I mean children. So, they felt somewhat obligated to provide cold relief for me in the form of pills and Vicks Vapo Rub. Given the problems that adding oily things to my skin causes and my slight feeling of aversion to such a product, I left it sitting on the window sill for several days. This morning I ate some eggs, had two extra strength ibuprofen, and then stood looking out the window massaging my poor swollen lymph nodes wondering when this would go.
I insert an aside here. I rarely get sick, and in fact ever since I started working out and eating better, it is even more infrequent. It is pretty great, but leaves me with a lack of empathy for those who deal with frequent illness. But when I do get sick, I am certain this is the end. I am sound like a fog horn when I cough, my nose produces boxes of kleenex worth of liquids and I am forced to sit around moaning with tissues stuffed up my nose. I believe that my immune system isn’t level loaded. I think that my body had a tremendous defensive position on the walls of the castle. But once the walls are breached, my defenses have to regroup to deal with an internal battle. This is what I believe.
I eyed the Vicks Vapo Rub and smelled it again – I love the smell of camphor. What the heck? I haven’t showered yet and I’ll make sure it stays off my face. I’ll just try it on my throat and just a touch under my nose. Afterall, that is what they use on those crime shows in the morgue. I rubbed it on and felt vaguely like Burt Reynolds in Striptease (not that I’ve ever watched that movie). I dabbed a little bit under my nose and found that it did actually help to feel less stuffed up. So I rubbed it on my throat still not convinced of it’s ability to make me feel better – after all there is a lot of muscle, bone, nerves etc this stuff has to go through.
But what the heck!
And what’s this? My throat and neck feel tingly, cold and open. Open. Less swollen.
October 2nd, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Vicks Vapo Rub really does do something, but I’ll be damned if I get the stuff on my sheets.
The Daily EO 