Best of all sides

I am fed up with this snot festival that's in full swing at my house. The youngest is getting a regular doctor's appointment today or tomorrow and I might go renegade for myself in the form of amoxicillin. Sometimes it's best not to waste time waiting for something to work or not when dealing with disease. When dealing with strep throat or other infections that resemble strep throat, or other varieties of strep infection such as possible pneumonia, I believe most firmly in the waste no time principle. Strep is nothing to mess around with. Antibiotics are great when used judiciously. Our socio-eco-political structure has made us dependant on others for our wellness to a scary extent. No one but a properly licensed physician in most cases is allowed to make a diagnosis. Does this mean I just broke the law in determining my own ailment and considering a course of treatment? Self medication is frowned upon in general, isn't it? Why is it that the educated deductions and opinions of others are worth more than our own? Well, when I had appendicitis, I sure wasn't up for taking out my own appendix, nor was I in any way qualified. I was also in way too much pain to figure out what my ailment was. I have never been so grateful for the skill, education and compassion of other human beings as I was when I went to the emergency room that day. There-finally- I said something positive about conventional western medicine. It certainly isn't all bad. I believe that the more tricks a person has in the bag, the better. Just use those tricks as wisely as possible. I am alive today because a surgeon did a fine job. Would I have refused that operation because I have lost faith in some aspects of conventional medicine? Never!

Now, the day is almost over and I've got rosemary and sage boiling in our bathroom for mandatory breathing treatments for this horrible upper respiratory thing which has afflicted us all. I don't think it's strep throat because none of us have the classical appearance of redness and swelling there, but it sure is a misery. I was really worried when the youngest barfed this morning, but now that feature has subsided and none of us is running a high fever. To antibiotic or to hold off? I think hold off, swig some ginseng & etc. infusions, and breathe some powerful vapors.