the sick house

I have a sense of impending doom. Last night at the dinner table, I was literally surrounded by coughing. It's more than enough to make me want to move out for a few days, just until they're all over the worst of it... but of course I could never, since they need me to take care of them.

There has been an interesting progression of illness through the family. DD came down with a cold first, and complained of a sore throat. Mostly, she had a post nasal drip and the occasional sniffle, and she coughed a little. She never ran a fever at all, although she was dragging for a couple of days. She's completely fine now.

Next to come down with it was DS1, and he missed school on Friday, and ran a slight fever that day and the next. By Sunday, he was much improved and he has been back to school all week. He still has a drippy nose and a cough, but he's in good spirits. His appetite is about half normal, though, and he has very little emotional resiliance, so I know he's still recovering. But at least he can go to school.

Then DS2 and DH came down with it at about the same time. For the first couple of days, DS2 was just kind of sniffly, but for the past 2 days he has been running a fever (ibuprofen controls it handily). His appetite, amazingly enough, is terrific -- if anything, he's eating more than usual, which is weird. When his fever spikes he is miserable, but on meds, he's OK. He slept a good part of today, which I hope means that the fever will break soon and he'll be good to go. He's not complaining of sore throat or ear aches, and his chest sounds clear, so I'm expecting this to clear up on its own. I'm giving him until Friday for the fever to break, and if he is still running hot by then, I'll take him to the doctor. If he weren't eating so well I'd be more concerned, but as it is, I'm willing to ride it out a few more days.

The hardest hit so far has been DH. He felt a cold coming on and it immediately went down into his lungs. The past 3 days he has been running a fever that's around 102, but the ibuprofen is taking the edge off. He went yesterday to the doctor and is on antibiotics, here's hoping they'll kick in and he can get back to work. This is not the best time of the year for him to be not-working, and consequently not getting paid, but he has been much too sick to go in.

As for me: I'm just waiting for it to hit. I'm having trouble feeling cold all the time, but I think my thyroid meds need adjusting. I also have trouble swallowing occasionally, and that may be related to a post-nasal drip, but other than that, I don't feel any different from normal. I have the usual assortment of aches and creaks and what-not, and my salivary glands and tear ducts have been acting up recently, but those are not symptoms of illness, as far as I can tell.

Is it inevitable that I will get some form of this junk? I hope not. It's bad enough with DH and the kid(s) being sick, someone is always tied down to the house. Yesterday I did a million errands while DH stayed home with DS2, but today DH stayed in bed most of the day, poor guy, and I stayed home with the little one, only leaving to take the older kids to and from school.

I made a huge vat of chicken stock today, and will put together soup with it tomorrow. We could all use a magic bullet here, and maybe some good soup will be it.