Water is Life

You don’t really understand how much of your body is made of water until you have a summer head cold. Then you can truly appreciate the amount of liquid that can drain from your sinuses into the back of your throat or onto the tissue you are trying to keep over your nose as you sneeze for the millionth time. Or drips from your nose, unannounced, when you tip your head – just so – to read or cook or slide your shoes on.

My dog thinks this is a fabulous thing. He’ll come over with tail wagging and sloppy kiss me to oblivion – if I let him – so he can get some of the salty goodness that is my post-nasal drip.

Dogs don’t mind snot. Whereas, our cat is greatly annoyed at me – still – for inadvertently sneezing in her general direction, earlier today. Of course the dog was delighted and proceeded to slobber all over her in an effort to assist in the perceived need for a “clean up on aisle 5”. This only added insult to injury in the cat’s mind, and she retreated into her pyramid of solitude while the dog then turned he attention to cleaning me up.

I am rarely sick, so I think he was feeling responsible for my care.

I relate this all, by way of an apology for not writing more frequently of late. I twisted my knee a few weeks ago, which tore some of the cartilage, and that was one hurdle. Then as I was feeling better, I ventured out into the world (with my mask, even though I am vaccinated – I know others may not be). I did grocery shopping, which means I handled a lot of things that were probably handled by a lot of other people – so there’s always a possibility of catching something that way…and of course, anything airborne can catch you even if you are in your own back yard.

But I digress. I have been on the mend and today, my knee is better and my sinuses are not, but I can see to type, so here I am…wondering about how much snot can be produced before dehydration sets in (not that I will ever get there, since I am drinking herbal teas like crazy and regular water, too). But in terms of writing for scifi and/or horror – just how much moisture can you lose to a cold or flu before your body shuts down?

Something to research for one of my weird tales.

Stay safe, wash your hands, do your part to prevent spreading illnesses. I’ve got research to do!