wishful thinking

For all of the nasty viruses and infections going around right now, our family had been healthy for over a month. I thought if I was diligent about washing hands, disinfecting the house and temporarily staying away from germ-infested play lands, maybe we'd be in the clear until spring. Well, I guess it was wishful thinking.

On Monday, my husband got on a plane for a 2 day business trip feeling perfectly healthy. 4 hours later, he got off the plane feeling miserable... It hit him fast and it hit him hard. Over the course of the next two days, his health began to deteriorate. Fever, achy joints, cough, sore throat...Need I say more? I'm sure you can guess, just by the symptoms, that he has Influenza. Once his flight got in yesterday morning, he went straight to urgent care and got the official diagnosis. Now home, I've confined him to the downstairs bedroom where we communicate via text messaging and I secretly bring him meals. We do this to avoid letting the girls see or hear their Daddy, because once they do, there's no turning back. You know how it goes for kids...Out of sight, out of mind.

I thought the rest of us were in the clear until Britten started getting really sick yesterday. She hasn't been herself for a couple of days, but I didn't think much of it. By the time she went to bed last night, her fever was around 104 and she could barely move. Ella, too, hasn't been herself, and woke up around 2am last night with a low-grade temperature, a cough and sore throat. Between caring for Ella and Britten, and nursing Chloe, as I normally do, I think I got about 1 hour sleep. I'm not complaining, though, as I'd rather be tired than sick. Chloe seems to be holding her own and I'm praying it stays that way!

So, that's what going on around here. Just boring, plain-old, influenza.