Quote from: Jamie D on January 03, 2014, 02:05:17 AM
Keep it all open and draining!
I wish you the best of luck. Jenny, what I admire so much about you is your willingness to reach out to others, to consider their experiences and observations, and to share your own.
Just watching you and some of the other gals here have helped me focus on the things I can do to mentally and emotionally further my own growth and understanding.
It's sort of funny. I am a generation older than you and your contemporaries onsite, yet I am the student here, learning from the masters. I thank you. I thank you all. 
Jamie, first of all thank you!! Your feedback throughout my entire transition has been a godsend. From the very beginning, you have been nothing but supportive, constructive, and cautionary all at the right moments. That loop of communication that I have received here (especially from you and Shantel but also many others) has helped me in ways I will never be able to repay back. But, hearing this from you tells me that somehow that I am repaying it back- which nearly brings me to tears. From the bottom of my heart and especially directed at you, thank you so much
On the topic of my stuffy nose, I had this hunch earlier that maybe if I stopped my nose from becoming stuffed overnight using a nasal spray... then maybe <<just maybe>> I could keep it from "setting up" and spreading to my throat/ears/lungs... possibly decreasing the duration of the cold or even stopping it altogether.
I did some research on nasal spray, and it turns out that the active ingredient in the 12 hour nasal sprays (oxymetazoline) actually has some kind of antiviral effect to it and helps a ton if used right at the onset of a cold. It doesn't completely kill rhinovirus but it does inhibit it and is much more effective than saline treatments.
So, I immediately hopped in my car and took a quick trip to the 24 hour CVS to get some Sinex 12 hour decongestant. Took two sprays in each nostril... Sinuses are OPEN and draining freely! Ahhhh so nice!
In the morning I am heading to get my xray and also doing another blood count test. When I took my first test I was in the process of getting over a nasty chest cold... the test came back and my white blood cell count was off so I am redoing it at the request of Dr. Mayer (they called me today to ask me about it). Hopefully everything comes back in normal ranges this time, and I am good to go!
