There you are again. That welling moisture that trickles slowly and unsuspectingly up my esophagus. I taste you. Though you're extremely bland, like the metallic aftertaste of a fish oil pill you have quite a bite to you. I feel your burn. It's a hot, lingering hot feeling. You know that feeling you have in your throat after you've hollered too much at a football game. Or after you have gargled with salt water and you used too much salt. OUCH!!!

I roll over. Can't quite see what time it is. Normally, I don't want to even know. But this morning, this morning, I want to know. Has there been any improvement? It's a little chilly. I'll just let one arm from underneath the covers to feel around on my nightstand. I don't want to cut on the light. If I do, I'll wake up too much and I won't be able to go back to sleep. Okay, okay, let me maneuver. If I hold the clock next to my laptop, the light from the monitor will reveal the time. Argggh, 4:30? You got to be freakin kidding me! I just went to sleep at 12 midnight so that I could give my bloody coleslaw time to digest and give my Aciphex a chance to start working.  Sidebar: bloody in this context is an English CUSS WORD!

I don't want to get up! My throat feels like someone is holding a torch to it, but I don't want to get up. How could I have had such a good night last night and wake up tonight as if there has been no progress. Has there been no progress? Please tell me that it's something I did. Perhaps it was the crescent roll and cup of applesauce I had at 7:30pm. Something told me not to. Why did I have to do that? Why? It wasn't like I was really that hungry. I could have just eaten my coleslaw and been done with it. Maybe it was the coleslaw!  Unlike the coleslaw I ate from Smithfield Barbecue, this did have a slight kick to it. Maybe I should have just used mayonnaise and not used that coleslaw mixture. All these damn maybe's. I really need to stop all this damn cussin, dammit!  Get your ass up, girl!

God,  I'm so sorry.  I just feel frustrated.

What to do? What to do? Shall I take a tablespoon of mustard again. I don't want to. Adds to the bite.  "Give the acid something to work on." I recall my friend Meshelle said that's what she does. Maybe I should try that tonight. Where's my housecoat. Wouldn't you know it? It's in the damn closet! Oh goodness, is that the second damn I've said tonight. Lord Lord Looooord, the saints would shake their heads if they heard me. I'm trying to be brave. I am. I'm so tired of this.

I just grabbed my stack of pillows: the neck roll, the 2 decorative pillows and my regular one. Let me prop myself up while I eat and possibly fall back to sleep. I just got to cut my light on. I don't want crumbs in my bed. OH, it's not 4:30, it's 5:45. Yay! That means I woke up at 5:30, not 4:30. That is a victory! Alrighty then. Back to my mental game of what could it be? What did I do? What did I eat?

Last time I felt this throat burn, my ND said that it was an allergy. Not a food allergy, like the allergic reaction to peanuts. I'd be in the hospital if that were the case. More like being allergic to, say, Tide Laundry Detergent. She thinks it is manifesting by my having a persistent burning throat. Hummm. What did I do differently last night? Well, I took some Magnesium. I wanted to get some sleep. Can't a girl get some sleep?  I'm sorry.  I digress.  Magnesium relaxes you, so I've heard. Well, my throat is burnin hotter and I'm sitting straight up. How long is it suppose to take before this piece of bread lures this acid in my throat back down to my stomach? Back to my ND's theory. Is this burning throat because of something I'm allergic to? Is it some ingredient that sets my neck a-blaze? Must be. That piece of bread has not helped. Though I am sitting straight up in hopes that gravity will be in my favor, that burning is intensifying. Hummm, this is a multigrain piece of bread. She might have a point cause eating that piece of bread seemed to only turn up the heat.

I've noticed that not only is my throat tingling but my upper arms are tingling too. Just a few moments ago, I sneezed. Gosh, I sound like a hypochondriac.  I would start laughing if I wasn't feelin so bad. Could I be allergic to something in the food. Or possibly something in the air? I did open my windows for a while yesterday. That was different than normal. Lemme do a test. I bought some organic honey at Earthfare the other day. I heard that if you get honey produced locally, it's better because it's from flowers and plants common to the area. Makes perfect sense to me. My friend who went to a natural hair event told me about that. Soooooo, I'm gonna trapes right back down those stairs and take a tablespoon of the honey. Let's see if that helps.

I also brought the air purifier into my bedroom. If there is any ragweed in the air, it should remove it. Come to think of it, I've been having itchy eyes for the last couple of days.

It's now 7:05. Lord knows, I don't want to be up. I want to roll back over and go to sleep. Not with this throat burning though.

It's 7:42. I feel sad and bout to start crying. This sucks!