I’ve had wonderful, patient, compassionate nurses in my life. I admire them greatly, because there is NO WAY I could do their job. None.
I think that taking care of sick people stinks! I’m just not cut out for it. Last night, I was so exhausted that I went to Wal-Mart, just to get away from my whiny, hacking, crabby kids. I couldn’t stand to listen to the sound of constant coughing anymore. I just couldn’t.
Also, we needed more Children’s Tylenol, but sadly, we were out of luck. There was NONE. The shelves were completely cleaned out. I couldn’t find ANY children’s pain reliever, not even generic. Also, there were about a dozen people lined up at the pharmacy for prescriptions. I’ve never seen a line so long there.
I know that there are people who say that the whole “swine flu epidemic” is a big government hoax, and it’s not really serious, and it’s all a cover-up designed to sell vaccines (ahem – I will reserve comment on all of this), but I’m here to tell you that it’s hit my kids hard. In fact, I’ve never seen Cakes so sick. She rebounded a bit yesterday morning, but for the last two days, she has taken 3 to 4-hour naps. This is unheard of for her. Also, she had a 101.5 temperature, even while on Tylenol. Bee, though her temp hasn’t been as high, coughs pretty much non-stop, and is completely miserable with headache and body aches. They both refused to eat yesterday, and Cakes hasn’t eaten in 2 whole days.
So, yeah. I believe the government when they say it’s serious.
Right now, it’s spreading rapidly in our area. My stepmom said that at her workplace, many, many people are out sick. My Dad works at a small college, and the last time I talked to him, they had almost 40 people out with flu. My husband said that he appraised a house a few days ago, and the owner was home with flu-related pneumonia. I talked to our local librarian yesterday, and she’s almost afraid to come to work now, because there are so many people coughing.
Right now, I’m listening to my own child, who just woke up, cough her poor little head off. I can tell that it’s going to be another very long day, but thankfully, I still feel fine. I’m amazed, truthfully, and grateful. I picked up a respiratory illness while pregnant with Cakes, and it knocked me on my butt. I had to rent a nebulizer, because I just could not breathe, and I’m not eager to repeat that experience.
