The Barracuda was born incredibly late (20 days) and having aspirated dirty fluid he was bluish-purple from lack of oxygen. After a few rounds of antibiotics this was no big deal. However, now anytime he even remotely gets sick, he begins to cough and wheeze. This is one of those secret parent things you just know about your kid. Well, a couple of days ago The Barracuda started coughing a bit. Parental Spidey-senses began to go off when the coughing didn't stop after about two days and was specifically strong when he began to get tired. Sick was coming.

Only, he didn't get sick. Nothing really happened other than this weird little cough. More parental-Spidey senses started flaring. This was weird. Thursday it became apparent what was going on. The Barracuda's right eye was getting weepy. Weepy then turned into goopy. Goopy then turned into completely gross. He has conjunctivitis, commonly known as Pink Eye. Pink eye can mean lots of things, but mainly the lining of the eye lids gets infected with either a viral or bacterial infection. This causes the red, itchy, sore eyes along with tearing and goopiness.

My mother completely freaked out when I got pink eye as a child. She equally freaked out when my brother got it a year or so later. Jules never got pink eye due to the extent his parents freaked out when anyone in the neighborhood or anyone three neighborhoods around them got pink eye. Trying desperately to learn from some of our parents' behaviors, Jules and I proceeded calmly to Safeway for some eye drops.

This morning I searched the Internet, in further attempts to not freak out, and found that Pink eye is incredibly common in children. In fact, it is no reason to freak out at all. Most conjunctivitis goes away by itself after 5-10 days. Pheew! If you catch it early, it is relatively easy to take care of and doesn't get very bad.

However, it is obnoxiously contagious (and down right disgusting). We are going to be doing at least one load of laundry every day or two. You get to wash EVERYTHING that comes into contact with the child (or adult's) face. Washcloths, pillowcases, blankets, clothes....everything. Equally wonderful to this task is that if one child gets it the parents, siblings, and friends of the child will probably get it too. No school or playground for The Barracuda.

Not being doctor people, it was off to the herbal store for a little VooDoo medicine and some Eyebright (Orobanchaceae Euphrasia). Just as it sounds, Eyebright is used to help with most any conditions of the eye. Most herbalists consider it to be the best eye relief out there. It stimulates the liver to detoxify and cool inflammations. It can also be used to help with the effects of allergies and hay fever. It is most useful when taken internally, and brewed as a tea. Combine 1/2 ounce of dried Eyebright with 1 pint of water. Steep for twenty minutes and drink. By combining it with a little honey the taste is less severe. Drink the tea liberally for a few days to relieve most any eye problems.Eyebright also makes a great eyewash externally for sties, conjunctivitis, or other eye sores. To make this combine 1 ounce of Eyebright for every pint of water and steep for twenty minutes. Soak a washcloth and place directly over eyes for five to ten minutes. It can also be used like drops, but be sure to cool it completely!
Information acquired from http://health.learninginfo.org/eyebright.htm

As for the Barracuda, we aren't going to do any compresses for him. Asking him to sit with a towel over his eyes for five complete minutes without touching or wiggling is just ridiculous. Childrens' Eyebright can be found at most any natural market place. We picked up some concentrate for The Barracuda because it usually tastes better and we are trying our best to have him not fight medicine. As he gets older and can better understand why he is taking it, the taste can become a little less sugar-filled. A few drops of concentrate in a shot glass with some juice or water and he is good to go. This he has no problem with, especially if we use a fancy shot glass of his dad's and make him feel very adult about the medicine he gets to take. That's right, we are not above coersion!

The Barracuda's eye isn't red, itchy, or sore. Mainly it is just gross. With frequent washings and a few doses of Eyebright, along with drops, he is doing just fine.

Warning: In some cases, Pink Eye can cause blindness and other really, really bad things, but you have to ignore it (and its worsening) for 2 weeks to a month. If your condition is worsening or you are experiencing any pain, loss or blurry vision, or it is just plain getting bad go to the doctor. Polysporin drops can only be prescribed but will clear the condition fast. As Jules said, "If you ignore how disgusting your eye is for a month, you kinda deserve to go blind."

Update: Both Jules and I started to feel as though our eyes were "sandy" about six days after The Barracuda become full blown disgusting. Like with most herbal remedies, catching it early made all the difference. We jumped right on Eyebright drops for both of us and nothing developed. Jules' didn't even have to miss a day of work (though his principal kept quite a good watch on him).

With the onset of allergy season and Jules attempting to quit his long seated tobacco habit, headaches are becoming more frequent in our household. Jules is a strong believer in Advil. However, I react very strongly to drugs (over the counter or otherwise) which has resulted in NO MORPHINE permanently written into my hospital file along with one heck of an embarrassing story for my parents to tell over and over again. It has also caused quite a look into alternatives in medicine.

As such, Feverfew tea is my chosen remedy for headaches. Feverfew is a herb so named because it has long been used to treat or relieve fevers, inflammation in joints and arthritis, and headaches. It contains vitamins A, C, niacin, and Iron and is also believed to increase appetite and cure asthma.

You can make a tea out of it by combining 1 Tablespoon of the herb with 1 cup of boiling water. Steep for about 10 minutes and drink. I mix it with some honey so that it doesn't taste nearly as sharp with the added sweetener.

If you wish to use Feverfew to cure migranes it will need to be consumed in one cup increments daily for about 4-6 weeks. This may sound tedieous, but as a teenage migrane sufferer I understand the debilitating effects of such ailments and it is worth the effort! Medical science has shown a dramatic effect in feverfew versus plecebo when studied for migranes. So, if you want to attempt to get off the prescriptions (or if the prescriptions don't work for you), I'd give it a try. You can eat and or chew on a the fresh leaves a few times a day to lessen the frequency and severity of headaches, also.

Information acquired from http://www.migraine-facts.co.uk/?page_id=82

Unlike Horehound, Feverfew is actually pretty and can be grown in the home garden. It is a cold hardy, terrible soil loving plant that is hard to kill and loves to be left alone.

So far I've converted Jules to Horehound, now I just have to work my VooDoo medicine (as he calls it) on the Feverfew!

The Spicy Barracuda is currently sick with Jules and I fending it off. Today was a day of snuggling on the couch, watching movies, and taking it very very easy. Barracuda is allergic to most all over the counter kid's medicine due to a filler that is commonly used. Rather than hives and vomiting on top of being sick, we resort to using herbal remedies. (Jules would like me to rephrase that - nasty herbal remedies.) I'm a big fan of not using the chemical products, but since most herbal remedies need to be used when you first feel the onset of sick coming, they are hard to use with a child. If the Barracuda had told me a week ago he was starting to feel like he might be getting sick, we wouldn't really be here right now playing catch up with battling viruses. I must say, however, at four and a half he does remarkably well with the whole feeling icky and taking medicine thing.

Our household uses horehound when we are sick with colds. Horehound is an herb that has been prescribed from as far back as the Greek physician Dioscorides in 40-90 AD. He advocated a concoction of horehound for tuberculosis, asthma and coughs. The herb is an effective immune booster. It is quite nutritious, containing vitamins A, B, C and E, essential fatty acids, iron, potassium and marrubin (an expectorant). Mainly, Horehound has proven to be effective in loosening phlegm and mucus in the bronchial tubes and in the lungs, however it will also relieve coughs and sore throats. The German government's committee of herbal experts, known as Commission E, has sanctioned horehound for use against bronchial problems, including laryngitis.

Footnote: Information and recipe acquired from A-Z Health and Beauty
http://health.learninginfo.org/herbs/horehound.htm

Horehound works really well for us, but I will warn you it tastes terrible. There is no getting around it. Jules and I create a fowl tasting (and smelling) tea by using 1/4 cup of Horehound and letting it boil on the stove till it is the color of hardwood stain. By condensing it this much you only have two swallows to get down, and only have to ingest it about 4 times. Though it will not make you feel amazing, it will prevent you from becoming full blown sick. Having the Barracuda try this, however, would be completely useless. So, he uses a cough syrup.

Horehound Cough Syrup
1/4 cup dried horehound
2 cups of water
3 cups of honey

Put horehound and water in a pot and heat until boiling. Let steep 10 minutes and then strain. When cooled add honey and mix well. Bottle up for use later.

Originally I wanted to grow it in our garden, that is until I got a look at the plant. As much as horehound is a wonderful medicinal herb, it isn't going to win any beauty contests. Also, it is related to mint and will take over. Hard to kill and a glutton for punishment, the plant will grow most anywhere and is very difficult to get rid of. Well, that killed the garden idea. Now, we pick horehound up our at a local herb shop and it is very reasonable in price when purchased in loose leaf bulk. It can be purchased at some natural stores in cough syrup already, but when I purchased it this way for the Barracuda at Whole Foods it was almost 10 dollars a fluid ounce! So, we kept the jars and now I make it.

In our house sick also means it is time to start defrosting the chicken stock from the freezer. Whenever chicken is on sale, I usually buy at package or two for the sole purpose of making chicken stock. Usually it is chicken quarters or thighs, but it doesn't matter. Whole fryers work as well, they are usually just more expensive than a package of pieces.
Chicken Stock
Ingredients
2 chicken quarters
5 celery stalks, tops too
3 carrots
1 onion
1/2 stick of butter
4 garlic cloves
3 rosemary sprigs
4 thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Cut the veggies into large pieces and then dump everything into a giant stock pot and heat on high until boiling. Boil about 5 minutes and turn down to low/medium heat. You want it to simmer all day, just below a boil. Stir frequently and check the water level so that the ingredients stay below the water level. After 6-8 hours, use a strainer to drain the liquid into another bowl. At this point the chicken should have fallen apart off of the bones. I separate the chicken (as best I can) and dump it in with the liquid and freeze it into tupperware containers. The murshy veggies then go to our compost pile. These become the bases for soups, sauces, and casserole all month. It stretches one package of chicken a long long way. I'm sure the same thing would work with veggie stock if your household didn't do meat.

To turn the chicken stock into soup all you need to do is re-add some onion, carrot, a clove of garlic (due to being sick), and some noodles. This means our family can have home-made chicken soup in about 10 minutes on the stove.

It works out really well for us to readily have the chicken stock all made up. I can either defrost it the night before or pull it out and microwave defrost it if I forget. By using a day off to make up three or more Tupperware containers, I don't have to bother with the extensive cooking during the times when life is so crazy I can't think about it or when I feel just as yucky as those I'm cooking for.

When we make stock, we turn off the heat and let the warm smell of the soup fill the house. The Spicy Barracuda and I snuggle up on the couch and he read a book to me while I knit. We have great conversations, watch a movie together, and just enjoy each others' company. In this way, soup and stock are great ways to not only nurture your body but each other as well.