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!