Tag Archives: Cover your coughs and wash your hands folks!

The flu…one down, three to go

All four of us dutifully got our flu shots in October or November…whenever they came in at our doctor’s office.  We usually get them every year and have mostly been well served.  Both kids and Emily are exposed to a lot of potential flu-people though so it’s always a bit of a gamble as to whether or not someone will end up with the flu at our house.

This year, of course, the flu shot is apparently not as effective as the CDC had hoped…and sure enough, Abigail was diagnosed with the flu last night.  I didn’t realize they had a quick-swab test thingy that could positively identify the flu in a matter of a few minutes…thankfully they do and she and Emily were on their way a few minutes later.  Of course, the flu isn’t gone in a few minutes and tamiflu apparently only knocks it down a day earlier than it would have been,  I guess a day is a day so that helps.

I went to the pharmacy last night to pick up her meds and was helped by the parent of one of the boys on my soccer team.  She knew why I was there based on my prescription for tamiflu.  I think it also was clear what the 4 bottles of wine were for as well…my medicine!  Wine, you see, is prophylactic for all illnesses.  I should be good with the wine only, but if I come down with anything, I’ll kick it up a notch like my Grandpa used to do…ginger brandy cures all!  Time will tell, dear friends!

So, right before lunch time, I called Abigail to check on her and see what she wanted for lunch today.  Her throat and snot-maker are so congested/screwed up that she couldn’t speak clearly enough for me to determine what she wanted.  We hung up and 10 seconds later I got a text, “Donuts”  As a donut connoisseur myself, I certainly appreciated her need.  I popped into Krispy Kreme, which, incidentally, I think makes the weakest of all chain-donuts, to buy a cool dozen for Abigail to eat at lunch.  I mean, one needs energy and comfort when fighting an illness, right?  Hopefully the other 3 of us can remain healthy.  We’ve broken out the disinfecting wipes and gas masks and flame throwers and stuff we use to kill germs in the house.  Hopefully we can stay ahead of it!

Wish us luck dear friends…today is also the one year anniversary of Aquapocalypse 2014…the mess where some chemical storage tanks leaked a bunch of crap into our water system which resulted in 300,000 local folks not having safe water to drink.