The Po Show

(Yeah, that title was for you, you know who you are ;).)

We've been doing pretty well so far this winter, illness-wise. Other than my and Tessa's 2 day bout of dysentery-like stomach horror around Christmas, my whole family has been keeping pretty healthy. Which is amazing considering the temperature fluctuations we've been having for the last several months. Usually warm-cold-warm-cold is just a recipe for sickness, but we've been managing to keep it at bay.

Now we've been hit with a bug that has swept its way through the ranks. Matthew started coughing a few days ago, a cough that got progressively more harsh and disgusting-sounding. Tessa picked it up, coughing in stereo. On Tuesday when I picked her up from school she was pale, and said, "I wanted to go to the nurse, but I made it through the day." Freaking trooper!

Yesterday they both looked awful in the morning. Matthew's throat was so raw that he could barely talk. I looked in his throat and his uvula was swollen twice normal size. So they both stayed home, and I took Matthew to the doctor for a strep test just in case. It was negative, thankfully.

By afternoon, I was sneezing and my nose was running and my throat was sore and my head felt like someone had smacked me with a two-by-four. Lovely. I downed Airborne and sucked on Cold Ease, but it was obviously too late. Today I feel like I'm looking at everything from underwater.

Matthew told me just now that he is feeling "completely better." Tessa was well enough to go to school today (though just before leaving she suddenly announced that she had a stomachache, despite the fact that she'd been dancing and hopping around five minutes earlier). They are so much more resilient than I. I feel like crawling into bed and staying there for a week. Instead I'm doing four loads of laundry.

Ross just called a little while ago, and he's obviously got it. He just got back from a 2 day trip to DC last night, and seemed fine. But today he says that he's completely congested and is having trouble breathing. He was waiting for me to look up something online for him, and I told him that he sounded like an obscene phone call, with all the heavy breathing :D. 

I know there are good and reasonable reasons for why humans produce so much mucus when they are sick, but I just think there could have been a better way.