Phooey to the Flu

Okay, so despite all the usual precautions, me and the kids got the flu. Again.

It was my day “off” when the nurse called me to come pick up Babygirl from school. I wasn’t the only parent summoned to pick up a febrile sickie; the nurse’s office looked like a hospital ward, with pale, listless kiddos splayed out on every surface. The school had even called in backup RNs to deal with what they described as maybe a little Influenza A epidemic.

Babyboy got it a few days later. Given that I’m the one snuggling with the kids reading bedtime stories, it’s not surprising that I got it too. I was at work when I was hit with the high fever, but still managed to don a mask and see all my patients before I fled home to bed.

And what a delightful smorgasbord of symptoms! Besides fevers and chills and headaches and copious mucous, we also had a variety of GI options to choose from. Lovely. Aleve and Sudafed and Benadryl and Pepto-bismol plus tons and tons of tea with honey and tons of makeup got me through a video interview with a Spanish news program on Day #2, a live taping of Healthy Living: Let’s Get Real on Day #3, and an all-day work retreat on Day #4. (Don’t worry, colleagues, I wasn’t coughing by then and didn’t touch anyone.) For sure the vaccine conferred some protection and allowed us to enjoy a milder version of a nasty illness.

Still, I’ve been just wiped out, really beat. Not at all my usual self. I still don’t feel 100% and it’s Day #6. This illness truly sucks. I’m thankful that it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been!