The Plague

aka The Flu?

I don't really know. I've never had the flu. I hear about the flu. Nurses are always recommending that I get a flu shot. I hear about the "feel like I've been hit by a train" comparison. I don't know. I've never understood the flu.

My mom used to always call our stomach bugs "the 24 hour flu," but I'm pretty sure that isn't worth panicking over not enough vaccine for...I mean, really.

My daughter came down with something. I suppose it is the flu. It has been going around since before Christmas and we missed the first bout and I expected to miss this one. They sort of cough for about a day, but not like a bronchitis. Then fall asleep in the middle of the day, then spike a fever, then break the fever, then puke. Then nothing for hours, then fall asleep in the middle of the living room, then spike a fever again. Is this this flu?

My eldest son keeps complaining about not feeling quite right also, but he is always so suddenly better just as soon as he gets whatever treatment his sister got that I'm suspicious. She didn't go to school this morning and he therefore didn't want to go either. Of course the school called an hour later that he wasn't feeling well. I drug her out of bed, drove over to get him wondering how I had missed the symptoms so badly.

Nope, he was fine. Still is. And yet I probably won't send him to school in the morning. Might as well save myself the trip of the extra pick-up, don'tcha think?

Though my mom would never let me stay home with a little cough and headache. No fever, no staying home from school. Especially if the headache only manifests itself five minutes out of every two hours.

When a kid chatters all the way home and asks if he can have friends over...I don't care what he is coughing and how bad his "head hurts" he isn't sick.

But my friend, who is on child number two of this disease we will call the plague promises me he will be sick tomorrow and the guilt will eat me up.

We'll see. He did this all day yesterday also.

I really prefer to just have well children. I suppose a lively game of dominoes tomorrow instead of schoolwork and housework will be worth it for them all to be well Tuesday when they go back.

Maybe by then everyone else will have had the plague also and we can go back to real life.