Cough, Colds, and Chaos Saturday

There are a lot of big match-ups in college football today. HumorMD Jr. is a bit upset about the timing of all of them. The four games that he wants to watch are all scheduled within an hour of each other. What can I say major network producers? I'm not mad, just disappointed (cue maternal shake of the head). Regardless of the poor planning, tonight could either clarify the national championship race or set off an atomic bomb in the college football world. I'm hoping for the latter.

Here in our house, Chaos Saturday has a whole different meaning. HumorMD Jr. is right on the border between bottle sizes. We tried out the bigger one today, and his eyes were a bit bigger than his stomach. Overall he did well, but he did manage to give Dad a formula shower a few times. Not a big deal as far as I'm concerned. I've already written about the showers that the other end of his gastrointestinal tract can produce. I'll take this end any day of the week.

On the medical front, I've been doing some work for Yahoo recently. There have been many coughs and colds coming into the clinic with the weather getting cooler. To that end, I wrote up some educational material on antibiotics and sore throats that you can find here. For those that have been struck by a viral pharyngitis, here are a few things to try for symptomatic relief:

• honey tea
• salt gargles
• Halls lozenges
• Chloraseptic spray
• Mucinex (if you have a lot of junk running down your throat)
• Fluids

That is the list I usually give out to my patients. Nothing is a magic bullet, but it should help some. Time is your best friend. Try not to scream at the TV when your team loses tonight as well. Nothing like a little laryngeal irritation to go with your pharyngitis!

The Deadly Infant GI Tract

HumorMD Jr. has continued to educate me for the past few days. You always think you will teach your kids a ton, but so far it has been totally reversed. As a physician, I take pride in the fact that I can stomach most anything. Have pus coming from all orifices of your body and your abdomen is blown open? No problem. As a matter of fact, I think it's time for lunch. HumorMD Jr. does his daily diaper blowout? The civil alert sirens go off. It is like nothing I have ever seen. My respect for pediatricians has exponentially increased. As an internist, I used to think of the peds crowd as a weaker breed. If you can deal with what I just saw coming from that baby bottom, then you are a real man as far as I'm concerned.

Since HumorMD Jr.'s gastrocolic reflex is that of a grown man, we will continue our introduction to grown man sports today. We are watching College Gameday together as we speak. Hope the rest of you enjoy your Saturday!