I would consider the colds and flues I’ve gotten before 2014 average. I’d get one or two a year until my kids went to school, then I’d get three or four. I could mark the calendar with the first cold of the season: 2nd week of October. I’d get sick again in January, then again in February and if it was a bad luck cold season, I’d get sick again in the spring.
The worst cold I had was delivered via a birthday cake in April 2013. That’s when I learned about viral load and its link to how severe one gets sick. It’s also the exact time I stopped eating birthday cake anyone – whether sick or not – blew out the candles on. In this house, that meant a piece of cake was cut for the birthday boy or girl, candles were put on it, and they blew them out and ate their own spit.
Because I had been hit with such a high viral load, I was sick within 12 hours, and I stayed sick for three months. It was the worst cold I ever had with a horrible cough, and coughs are the one area I excel at. I’m a natural cougher, so when a cold hits, I can cough so hard, well, let’s just leave that right there. Even when I’m not sick, I’m coughing. It’s the way I’ve been since I was a child. I’d cough all night except I slept through it and the only reason I knew I was coughing is others heard it and told me. My uncle John was the same way.
