Garlic Bread for Flu?

A few weeks ago, or maybe it was last week, Grace came down with something.

She texted on the weekend that she wasn't feeling well, and she spent time resting.  She confided that Jack, her boyfriend, teased her for having a "man cold," which I think meant she was exaggerating how sick she was. 

She didn't go to work on Monday, still feeling sick, and she called me on Tuesday morning to get my opinion on whether she should go to work. 

I'm pretty much a suck-it-up Midwesterner. How many days of work can you miss?

"Maybe you should try to work half a day," I suggested. 

She called her boss and offered to come in for half a day. He told her to take the whole day. 

On Wednesday, she went to work and texted to ask if she could come over to do laundry since the dryer at the apartment laundry room wasn't working. 

When I got home that evening, Grace had her second load of wash going. She gave me a  hug, and I pressed my cheek against hers. 

"You feel warm," I said. 

Pulling a thermometer out of the cabinet, I gave it to her, and it beeped along until reaching its end. 

103 degrees. 

I immediately felt guilty for suggesting Grace shouldn't miss work. How was she even standing, doing laundry with a 103-degree fever?

Earl and I finished the laundry for her. 

Jack stopped by after work to take Grace and her neatly-folded clothes back home. 

The next day she went to the doctor who diagnosed the flu and told her not to be around people until she'd been free of a fever for 24 hours.  

And, as if on schedule, Jack began to show symptoms of the flu the next day. 

By Friday, they were both home sick, Grace claiming that Jack was delirious with his fever and had apologized profusely for thinking she dramatized her illness. 

As I left work on Friday, I asked Grace what I could take her. I offered chicken soup.

Then I searched online to see what food helped with the flu. I headed to the grocery store  and stocked up on ginger ale, Popsicles, tissues, juice, bananas and garlic bread. Who knew that garlic and bananas were good for the flu? 

Then I swung by Noodles & Company to get chicken noodle soup. 

When I dropped off the goodies, the two of them looked dazed. I avoided kisses and, hopefully, the flu. 

A few more days and Grace was finally on the mend. Thank goodness. Let's hope she can avoid any major illnesses for another year or so. 

Ever since she got mono three years ago, she seems to be more susceptible to getting sick.  Hope this is it for the year. 

Getting Over Illness

Where do you come down on the idea of exercising when you're sick?
If I feel myself coming down with something, I force myself to exercise, thinking that it will help fend it off.
Since I exercise most days, I hate to miss.
Monday night, I was so sick that exercise of any kind was not an option, but my fever broke around 4 a.m. and I felt so much better immediately.
So when my friend Sheila texted to ask if I wanted to go on a walk, I did.
We walked about two and a half miles and we didn't go very fast. We stopped at Starbucks, and I had some peppermint added to my mocha to help clear out my sinuses.
We decided that walking, which gets the lymph system going, was a good idea while sick.
Last night, on my way home from teaching, I convinced my husband to meet me at a nearby bar for a hot toddy.
When I asked for it, the young bar tender looked at me blankly. "What's in it?" he asked.

I said, "brandy, honey, lemon."
He stopped me and said they didn't have brandy.
"I'll look it up," I told the bar tender. So I searched on my phone and came up with a recipe.
Whiskey, honey, lemon, ginger. "And can you make it hot?" I asked him. He seemed stumped again, but then said he would add some hot water to it to make it hot.

And, it did the job. Before I even had a sip, I breathed it in through my mouth and felt the whiskey and ginger making a difference.
My sinuses were clear all the way home, but unfortunately it didn't last.
So after another sleepless night of coughing and sneezing and sniffling, I waited until 6 a.m. to text Sheila. We walked more than three miles this morning, again at a slow pace and with coffee.
Luckily, I was able to find a sub for three of my classes so I can have a calm morning, but I still have to teach this afternoon and again this evening.

A Tale of Two Sons

Last Friday I started feeling very ill. We went out for breakfast at 6:30 a.m., the only time we could all celebrate Tucker's birthday, and I could hardly eat.
My throat hurt, my head hurt and my nose was stuffy. I came home from school for an hour break to rest and never made it back to the staff meeting. I felt too miserable. I lay on the couch as Earl left for work and the boys came home from school.
When I asked, Spencer brought me a glass of water and some ibuprofen.
I pulled myself off the couch to serve birthday cake to five boys who then cleared out quickly.
Before he left, Spencer said, "Mom, do you need anything before I go out?"
I told him no and he leaned over to kiss me in my cocoon on the couch.
I got sicker before I started to get better. Stiff neck, vomiting, chills.
By Sunday, I was sitting up at the kitchen table when Tucker wandered in for lunch.
Tucker began shoveling down his tomato soup and grilled cheese then he turned to me, "Are you sick, Mom?" he asked, surprise in his voice.
It took him three days to notice.
Those are some very different boys I'm raising.