Waiting Patiently for Frogs and Locusts

I know I usually blame my lack of writing and reading on work. And I still will. But adding into the fun has been several waves of illness.

The kids have had a bit of congestion on-and-off since our trip to Chicago, but it’s been pretty mild…just your usual run-of-the-mill runny noses and occasional cough. We utilize the benadryl at night, and if someone is exceptionally snotty, some sudafed before school to keep most of it at bay. But mostly we just load up the vaporizers each night and wipe their noses.

About two weeks ago, however, Justin gets home a lot later than planned from his trip to California, due to flight delays and such. Since I knew he’d be too exhausted to get up right away with the kids, I went to bed early so that I’d have the energy (since they sometimes get up a 6:30am). Thankfully they didn’t get up until around 7:30am, and the three of us hung out and played and watched a movie. Around 11am, though, I was really feeling rough and I couldn’t figure out why…just chalked it up to not sleeping well those first several hours in bed until Justin got home around 3am. But I figured he’d slept a good while and the kids were getting antsy anyways, so we woke Justin up. The kids were more than thrilled to see their daddy after him being gone a week, and I was glad to get a slight reprieve since I was feeling so run-down.

By bedtime I was nearly falling asleep while getting Cooper into bed. At 9:30pm I had dozed off on the couch and didn’t wake up until well after 11 or 11:30pm, complaining why Justin was up so late (nevermind I was still sprawled across the love seat instead of being in bed). By morning I felt miserable–all my sinuses were congested. The pressure was so bad, even with a decongestant, that I worked from home two days. By Wednesday it had subsided enough to warrant sitting in traffic for 90 minutes to get to work, but by the end of the day my throat was bothering me. On Saturday my throat got so bad I swore I had strep and high-tailed it to my doctor to get it checked. Nope…no strep, just a virus. Have some ibuprofen, decongestant, and chloraseptic. Thank you for your co-pay.

Meanwhile, Cooper’s slightly snotty nose progressed into a full faucet, complete with a bit of a cough and a big dose of the crabbies. Nothing worse than a sick, willful, and cra-aaaaa-bby toddler. Their fury stops angry bears and charging rhinos, and sends even the sanest mother running for the liquor cabinet. And I did…well, to the wine rack, anyways. On Tuesday, Gavin’s cold had ramped up as well, including some complaints of a sore throat. Meanwhile, my throat was still on fire, especially at the end of the day.

Wednesday morning Justin’s alarm went off at 5am. I tried to open my eyes to see the clock but couldn’t. And not because I was too tired, or lost ocular muscle control, but because one was partly, and the other was fully crusted over. Yeah. Ewwww. I grabbed a tissue, wiped my eyes, and rolled back over, muttering curses. By 6:30am when my alarm went off, I could only open one eye, so I cyclopped my way into my bathroom to clean up and inspect. As I suspected (but was too tired to check at the time), I had pink eye. My doctor confirmed and was also frighteningly impressed with my skill at getting pink eye all.by.myself. No one else in the house has it. And he gave me the same song and dance about my still-inflamed throat.

So I’ve been home now the last three days. During that time, Cooper’s cold has finally rounded the corner and Gavin’s got worse, so ended up staying home with me today because of a low-fever and wicked cough. I am supposedly no longer contagious, but most children age 5 and under are scared at the sight of me (however my own children have not seemed to notice my red and crusty eyes). The throat is still sore, and I’m now convinced it must be one bitch of a virus because with all the Cipro eye drops that eventually make it down the back of my throat, you’d think it would feel better (had it been strep). To add to the fun, I’ve still been working my regular 8-hour days and then still working an additional 2-3 nights per week for a couple hours each night, and even did a couple hours over the weekend. I’m sure that’s not helping my recovery process, but I’m really hoping it will slow down a bit now that we’re right on top of the holidays.

Somehow through all of this Justin has remained completely symptom-free. Well, it’s not like I tried to pass my sinusitis, tonsillitis, or conjunctivitis to him, but it’s unusual for one member of a household to remain so unaffected when you have three others ailing around you for a month. Particularly if some of those ailing members share your bed or are filthy little kids who don’t cover their mouths (often) when they sneeze and/or cough. This mystery is only cementing my theory that he’s really an alien, though with how red, drippy, and crusty I’ve been looking lately, maybe I’m the alien.

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Hey, don’t forget about the fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital!!! Click on the page listed above in the skinny purple bar at the top for details. Biggest reason to do it? It’s for the kids! Please…even a small purchase like a pair of earrings or a lipgloss will help!