When I was writing this, I had just recovered from my influenza. Just flu. Just flu? Maybe. But I hope yes. How do I know? How am I so sure? Or not sure? He..he
A week ago, started on Friday, November 25th. There was a professional development day in my workplace, and the schedule was tight. The first program that the employees had to attend was at 7 am. So did I. I did not have a good chance to eat a proper breakfast as the next activity would start at 8.05, straight after the first program. Luckily, there were pretzels brought by a colleague to our table. I took one. In short, the agenda was very tight and back-to-back that day because I did not have enough time to prepare and eat proper lunch.
My point is I was in my intermittent fasting and did not eat proper meals that day while my brain and my body were working hard.
Then the following day, which was the weekend, I felt a headache and started feeling uneasy and painful all over my body. That was going on. Due to many loads of work, I was still going to work on Monday. Until…on Wednesday, November 30th, I could not stand anymore with my stuffy nose and sore throat. Very painful. So, I went to my boss and asked permission not to work the following day. He asked me whether everything was Ok (you know where the question referred to as some colleagues are positive for COVID). I said, yeah, everything is OK; I just need a day or two to rest.
So there I was. I did not tell many because I worried everyone would ask me to get tested:) I did not want to get tested. Sorry. You will learn later on:)
On the same day, when I was not working, a colleague texted me that there was another colleague that experienced the same thing and got tested, and the result was positive for COVID. Oh, Oh! Really sorry for that.
I made up my mind. I insisted that I did not want to take an antigen or PCR. I made myself clear with this. FYI, I’ve never had covid before (never hope, of course). I have very good stamina, or just being lucky among many people, colleagues, and family members who got COVID during these covid times. So this flu was the first since 2019.
I did not take the test because I did not want to take any pills or medicine. It was a kind of trauma maybe. I had a fearful experience regarding this. That was in July, 2021 when COVID got very intense in Indonesia, particularly Jakarta.
My son was positive. My niece, my nephew, my sister, and my brother-in-law, though, do not live in the same house. My niece, who was hospitalized, contacted me when she heard about this. She just got better, she said. She suggested that my son take the medicine she got from her doctor in the hospital. So, she sent the medicine home. Many kinds of medicine, say antivirus and antibiotics. I don’t want to mention the names here. But they were very popular among COVID patients and given by the government in almost every referral hospital.
My son took medicine, both kinds, in the morning. Then in the evening, he felt worst, his breath was heavy, and he could barely breathe. I was panicking. The condition continued until the middle of the night when he could not sleep. How could he sleep, he even struggled to breathe.
Hospitals were full everywhere. No oxygen was available. I called an oxygen center, many! But got nothing. In Jakarta at that time, oxygen was hard to find, and if there was, the price was super expensive, and the place was so far away to get one. The regular price says Rp.750.000- That time, somebody, he said, in the Roxy area, Jakarta, asked for Rp. 5 mills! Crazy! Luckily, God sent an angel to me. A friend of a close friend. He is a doctor and owns a clinic in the Bogor area. This man is so generous that I will never ever forget him. He sent an oxygen cylinder, filled, and for free!!! That was at 1 am. And my son was dying. I could not help to cry remembering this. That saved my son’s life.
But somewhat, it left extensive trauma on me, who witnessed how he fought the virus that probably blocked his trachea.
So based on that fearful moment, I wanted to heal or beat this flu Virus in my body in my own way. Wanna know what I did? Keep reading!
As a home woman, I always have a bunch of kitchen spices, like gingers, kencur (ginger brother, sorry, not sure what to call in English)), clove, star anise, cinnamon, you name it. Many others. Starting that Thursday, in the morning, I drank kencur (please google it should you be curious) twice a day. I put a handful of kencur, and crushed them in a blender with a little warm water. I added a teaspoon of honey. Gulp!
Then I put a pan of water on the stove and put two big gingers, lemongrass, cloves, and cinnamon. I added lemon to squeeze on every glass of these “herbs” jamu. I drank a lot. Many times a day.
At night before bed, I boiled two glasses of water and added mint leaves and lemon squeeze again, as I believe in the magic of lemon. I drank it. Two glasses. Then I inhaled my young living Eucalyptus oil. Then sleep soundly!
Friday morning, upon waking up, I was coughing and felt a lot of mucus coming out from my chest. I felt relieved. But my throat was still painful that was hard even to swallow my spit. I continued doing the same thing, drinking kencur, and ginger and eating a lot of fruits and more veggies in my meal.
Nature does my magic! Today, Saturday morning, when I woke, I felt much, much better, more energized; my sore throat is gone, no more cough, and fresh! Wow. Wow… I did not take any pills or medicine. To make my stamina back alive today, I walked and jogged under the morning sun for about an hour and a half.
That was it. I healed myself with the magic of kitchen spices. If I were asked, did I get covid? I did not. This was just ordinary flu because I had been working hard and did not eat a proper meal during my eating window. But every body must experience different symptoms or different lifestyle. Again, this is just my piece of sharing.
So, never do this! When you know you will have a tight schedule in your workplace, make sure you prepare many healthy snacks in your pouch, and of course, prepare your lunch well.
Stay healthy!
Ayu, Home by the garden, Dec 2nd, 2022
Catatan_Senja 