Sledgehammer Sleeping Pills

"Can't sleep. Coughing fits and bruised ribs. I just need the Sandman to show up with a sledge hammer."

My poor poor friend is sick... again.  and there's nothing worse than being sick... except being sick alone-- which is what often times I hear happens when you're married and coughing... so I guess whether, your single or married, being sick simply stinks.  Its been a long time since I've been kept up with wracking coughs. but my mom told me she was taught by my great aunt Francis who hailed from Oklahoma, that to relieve a cough; dump a little salt in your hand and lap it up.  Mom said she even tried it on me as a child and said when she left the room, she was convinced it wouldn't work.  She sat in the other room and listened in frustrated helplessness to her small child:

hack hack hack
hack hack hack
....

and then silence.

The old wives' tale proved to be a back woods remedy to which I resorted from time to time in my growing up years.

However

in my adult life, I've decided I didn't really know how much salt I should be downing (and since high blood pressure runs in my family I really don't want to be guessing-- though I suppose having a stroke would stop the coughing just as much as robitussin. ) So when I'm out of cough medicine, I warm some water, dissolve some salt and gargle.  It seems to do the trick for a common cold cough at least for a little bit.  But for my friend who has bronchitis-- I got nothin' for him,  but if he's still up-- I hope this cartoon will make him feel a little less alone on the couch, where Im sure he's been quarantined.

feel better soon friend...I'm going to sleep.

ps) the reference to purple butterfly is a logo for a sleeping pill. the commercial has people being visited by a giant butterfly as they drift off happily to sleep... I don't know, it must be just me, but being visited by a giant butterfly seems more like a nightmare than a welcome dream...