Illness in the house!

What do you do when your sick?  I mean really. really. sick.  Last week a horrible illness came to our house (uninvited as always!)  It came home with son #2  in the form of a high fever, lethargy, coughing, stuffy head and general malaise.  It hung on throughout the week...until we finally sent in the big guns (an antibiotic) to help treat the junky, clunky, heavy-duty cough.  It is tapering off in the first person it hit, but not without taking a stab at ever other person in the house.  The big boy is sick... gunky, gunky nose and lethargy.  Slight fever and slight cough.  I got hit with a whammy version of it-- a cough that insists on going lower and lower into my chest, causing fits of hacking-- tearing at the lining of my throat.  Moms can't get sick.  They just can't, because there is just too much to do.  There are too many things to take care of.  But. I. sure. did.  and it's not going anywhere fast.  Nat  is "under the weather" but not like the rest of us.  The illness took a stab at him, but I don't think it's going to take him down.  Take that, virus!!

So what to do?  Here's what we do:  If you are sick at our house (and I mean really truly sick), we do what we can to ease your pain.  If you think french fries and chicken soup sound good, you get french fries and chicken soup.  If you want popsicles and "special sparkling soda", we try it!  There are blankets strewn accross the couch, there are snuggies and pillows and the like!  Beds come down-- from top bunk to a special spot on the floor so pillows can prop you up and moms can check on you in the night.  Mentholatum chest rub wafts through the air, coughdrops sit on the kitchen counter (along side cough medicine, antibiotics, tylenol and syringes!)  Blinds stay closed for a good part of the day.  Cartoons play as kids drift in and out of sleep.  Dishes get done a few at a time, here and there.  The laundry piles up into mounds and mounds.  Did I mention they are huge mounds?  We just do what we can to make it through the day.  We think of better days ahead and remind ourselves that we've been this sick before and managed to get well again!  Any and all water-conservation goes out the window!!  (Not that we were good at that before...)  Nathan takes baths that last for hours and hours... he sits with his head proped on the side of the tub almost asleep, as the water trickles over his sore ear.  We have chairs accross the bathroom for anyone who wants to take a turn staying by his side-- complete with space for a laptop or ipad, a book or a drink.  Anthony asks for steam showers several times a day to clear his head.  We muddle and struggle and just manage through the days, knowing that one day soon... it'll all be a distant memory!

When that day comes...then we'll clean the house-- open the blinds up wide-- tackle the mountains of laundry-- eat healthy-- exersise and organize and maybe even attempt to conserve a bit on the water!  (That'll be the day!  It can't come soon enough!!)