As many of you know, I am a radio announcer.  I go to work at KXRA in Alexandria, Minnesota (check us out at www.kxra.com)  every morning at 5:30 and go on the air at 6:00.  Prior to leaving for work, I do not talk.  There is no one to talk to.  So it was just shortly before 6:00 this morning when a co-worker greeted me and I attempted to say good morning, that I realized I had no voice!  None.  And, when you are an on-air announcer, you can’t just call job services to have someone fill in for you!  So I went on the air sounding like a frog with a really bad cold. Now, I knew I when I woke up that I didn’t feel 100%; but having no voice at all was a shock. Not only did I not have a voice…after a few words, my throat muscles would start to tighten and it really hurt!   I guess it’s going around.  They say it lasts about a week.  Let’s hope not. 

My listeners are absolutely the most wonderful people in the world.  No sooner had I opened my microphone this morning, then my wonderful listeners started calling with advice.  Dennis Anhalt, my news director, said to rub my throat and chest with Vicks VapoRub and tie a piece of flannel around my neck.  A caller to the Birthday Club also suggested the Vicks and flannel.  Another caller suggested that I gargle with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water.  A wonderful lady told me about a topical rub, better then VapoRub,  made by Listerine…which I have not been able to find.  For the pain a nice man suggested taking a different pain reliever every four hours! 

And, of course, at the very first sign of any sore throat you should gargle with warm salt water.  Apparently, according to the caller, the salt will kill the bad germs but allow the good bacteria to survive.   She said a lot of the really powerful mouthwash/gargles kill all the bacteria in your throat.  Another friend suggested sleeping with a stocking cap on my head.  She said when she was a child they always slept with a sleeping cap on (even the Christmas poem says:  “With mom in her kerchief and I in my cap, we had just settled down for a long winters nap”) and rarely had a head cold! 

So as I write this I smell like VapoRub with a scarf around my neck and have completed the suggested gargling(s), have taken just one brand of pain reliever; and I am about to crawl into bed with a road-grader-orange  wool Minnesota Deer Hunters stocking cap on my head.  God willing, I will survive to write another day.  With the help of my beloved community.