stopping mum's cough

noticed mum had been coughing quite a bit recently. 

initially, i gave her her cough mixture but it didn't seem to help much. i also observed over time that she seemed to cough more at nights. and this made me suspect if indeed her cough was due to urti. i started to suspect her cough could be due to her choking on her own nasal fluid that flowed backward when she lied flat on her bed. and 4 days ago, her cough got so bad she hardly slept. for that matter, even my sleep was affected!

so, i decided to do an experiment. i placed a hard pillow below her mattress just below her head. this reclined her mattress to a certain extend and elevated her head when she sleeps. my theory was that if indeed her cough was due to her being choke, by elevating her head, i would be able to allow her nasal fluid to flow naturally and thus free her airway, thus preventing her from choking. and guess what? it worked! she slept through the night without a single cough!

she has been sleeping very well for the last 2-3 nights. then again, given her forgetfulness, she insisted that she coughed through the night and did not sleep at all. and of cos, i played along. i showered her with all my concern about her "insomnia", made a little fuss here and there about her needing to sleep early, and gave her a token amount of cough mixture before bedtime to calm her down psychologically. and of cos, the maid played along and everything turned out beautifully for mum.

heh heh.