Category Archives: Doctor Who

I’ve been reading the Twitter #gally feed since the end of the convention and while it’s helping keep the end-of-con blues away, it is also sad to see so many succumbing to the dreaded and ubiquitous “con crud”…those nasty, germy things we all pick up at conventions from time to time.

It wasn’t by chance that I didn’t get sick this year…it took careful planning and determination, but when your favorite Doctor is in town, it is easy to find the will and determination to stay healthy. Except for Peter Davison’s very first appearance at Gallifrey, way back in 1989, I have been consistently sick this time of year with everything from flu to back problems. Perhaps because of the excitement over his being in town, one of my worst years of illness coincided with his last appearance. I threw not one, but TWO discs out in my back and spent the majority of the convention laying in the back of our minivan in absolute agony. Determinedly, (or stupidly), I would periodically emerge to catch him on stage and in the dealer’s room, while spending the rest of the time in the van, listening to the torrential rain pounding the roof and cursing my bad luck.

The final straw was last year – a year he was supposed to be here, but couldn’t make it. While I spent the first two days well, the last day I came down with a high fever and flu-like symptoms and missed attending the last day. Over the course of the next day or two as I broke out in the ugliest rash of my life, it came to the horrible diagnosis that I had somewhere, at some point before the convention (about 10 days before), been exposed to chicken pox.

That was it.

This year I took the greatest pains to stay well. Once a month back adjustments (including one the day before the convention) and I got a flu shot (which I have never done in my life) at the beginning of December. Nine days later I got sick, but it wasn’t the flu. It was a chest cold my husband brought home from work. Still plenty of time to get over it and recover. Most every year I get my yearly cold in December and am over it in plenty of time, so I wasn’t concerned.

It was about this time I started on something else new… “Thieves Oil” – a mixture of essential oils applied to the pulse points on the wrists daily, it boosts the immune system and kills whatever bugs you come in contact with during the course of the day. I was taking a chance that this $40 .5 oz bottle was going to help make the difference, but I was determined to do everything in my power to make this a healthy, memorable experience this year. I used it religiously, missing only one day between the day I started it and today. The oil seems to have worked because I am still plague free so far.

Perhaps the biggest help, ironically, was a life-altering shift in my stress levels. Things have been financially tight since last summer, and instead of worrying about the bills, I relied heavily on distancing myself from the stress, but still tackling the problem. A 12-week, extremely intensive “Black Belt Course in Excellence” course two years ago, which included heavy Law of Attraction theory and application, paved the way for better utilization of shifting my perspective towards stress and money. And as science has proven, stress reduces our immune system’s ability to fight off infections.

I hope everyone gets better quickly and that in some small way, this article gives you some ideas on how to beat the Con Crud and thoroughly enjoy next year’s Gallifrey.