Flu

I have become a paranoid mess. On Friday night, Connor visited my bedroom and told me his eyes hurt and he was hot. He had a low-grade fever, so he piled into bed with Ed and me. While trying to figure out what was wrong with him, I kept thinking about the many miles I was planning on running Saturday morning, and a full night's sleep would've been pretty nice.

Saturday morning, I ran 15 miles, and felt pretty decent afterwards. I was sore, but not ridiculously so. By Saturday night, it became obvious that Connor had been felled by something worse than initially thought, as he opted to skip an annual caroling party we attend. Helen and I went to the party leaving Ed and Connor behind. During that time, Connor got worse and by Sunday morning, he spiked a fever up to 107 - which was pretty scary. The nurse I called basically said "hang up, throw him in the tub, call me in 10 minutes and tell the receptionist not to put you on hold". The fever did come down, and I spent the next half hour dialing around the region looking for Tamiflu. There's been a huge run on the stuff, and no major chain still has it in stock. I did manage to secure some for Connor though, which impressed the nurse when I called her back with the location of the medicine.

All day Sunday, I kept checking myself for signs of flu. Yes, I was achy, but I didn't think I was more achy than I should've been, so I eventually decided I was fine. Luckily, I had the foresight to work into the wee hours of Sunday night, because I sensed that Monday would be full of care-taking responsibilities. Before I made it to bed on Sunday, both Helen and Connor had been up multiple times, Ed was coughing and tossing, and I was really getting nervous.

Monday, Connor stayed home from school with me, definitely looking a lot better than I would expect. But by 2:00, Helen had been felled by the flu. Ed came home from the office and spiraled downward until he went to bed with Helen at 9:00 - after Helen had finally gagged down antibiotics (for an ear infection) and her first dose of Tamiflu (which tastes like soap, or worse, according to Helen),

So here I sit - last person standing. Continually checking for any signs of illness. I have a feeling as soon as I get off the plane on Tuesday evening I'll just completely fall apart. I hope not, but I have a bad feeling.

Hopefully we'll be well by Christmas. I still cannot believe that this is the SECOND major illness for our family this year - after going several years with nothing significant.

Sigh.

Elaine