drained

(photo found on flickr)

Well, for the record, we have begun the yearly ritual of passing around illnesses. Elisabeth started the festivities with a runny nose, so she stayed home from church nursery on Sunday just to avoid passing it to any other innocent little ones. Then Abigail developed a nasty cough that kept her up for a few hours Mon night so she stayed home from school on Tues. And then last night, Isaac was up with the worst croup we've ever encountered. For a couple minutes, we considered the emergency room, but then he started to breathe a little better in the steam of the bathroom, so we held off. And he stayed home sick today.

Zac stayed home from work today, too. He and I have both had off and on headaches and just generally feeling drained. We've been getting to bed at what we consider "early" (about 10:00) - but still wake up feeling like we're dragging. I guess it could have something to do with the children we have been tending at all hours of the night. But, still. I just need a wee bit more energy to get through my days. I really do.

I suppose we should consider ourselves fortunate that we have not yet gotten the swine flu, nor any other variety of flu for that matter. I considered getting the vaccine for at least myself and maybe Abigail since we are both asthmatic. But right now it is only being distributed at the County Health Dept, which is about an hr. away, and then you have to wait in line for hours, and then they might be out of doses by the time you get there, and they close at 4 pm. Right. So I'm not sure if we'll make it to do that.

But there have been cases of swine flu at the school, and in our neighborhood and in our church congregation. I am still not quite clear on how concerned we should be about it.

Some things I've learned, though, as I've researched my kids' coughs and everything trying to self-diagnose, of course:

1. The swine flu is primarily a respiratory disease. Sometimes, it can include gastrointestinal symptoms, but not usually.

2. And one of the key clues as to whether it's flu or a cold is that the flu comes on all of a sudden, where within a few hrs. you have a fever, cough, aches, chills and feel pretty miserable. A cold develops more gradually, over a few days. This was what made me conclude that my kids have colds and not the flu.

(just so you know) :)

Anyway, hopefully we will all be feeling better soon.

And in the meantime there are some fascinating photos of drains out there, you know, for anyone looking.

Thanks for reading . . .