what's cooking?

Lately I feel as if I'm in need of some help-on several levels.  But it seems that I'm the help.

First it was that awful stomach virus for some 14 days.  Nothing says fun like two weeks of peppermint tea, toast and baked potatoes.

Then almost two weeks ago, Steve came home and said, "I think I have a cold."  NOOOOOO!

For Steve a cold means:  2-3 days of sneezing, snoring while he sleeps (okay, that's normal, but now it's so loud that my ear plugs do no good at all), drinking tea and not wanting to do much.  After that, he's fine.

Then comes the reality of my world:  As a person with an auto-immune disorder, no matter how many times we wash the sheets, wash my hands and how far away from him I try to sit-I catch it!  And it's not 2-3 days worth of misery, nope!  Here is my schedule:

Days 1-5:  sneezing, coughing, blowing until my face looks as if sandpaper has been rubbing against it, headaches, low-grade fevers and the will to keep on trucking with whatever is on my plate.

Then day 6 happens about 90% of the time-it moves from my head to my lungs, my neck and lower back are blown out from the coughing and sneezing and now strange colors are coming out of my various orifices that send me to the immediate care clinic.

I am then told that I have (usually):  sinusitis (really? no kidding), broncytis (again, really?), ear infections and whatever else my body decides to make me miserable with hosting.

The doctor usually sends me home with a plethora of drugs (mainly because the ones that are OTC obviously didn't do anything worthwhile) and told to just rest.

That would be nice.

This go round?  Let's see-Adam needed me to take him to a surgicenter for a minor procedure.  I think the medical staff wanted to quarantine me but didn't know where to put me.  Once Adam was allowed to be taken home, I stayed with him until Sam got home and then-Steve and I went to the concert that our dermatologist nicely sent us too.

We don't go out very often.  This was supposed to be a special date night, really.  I wrote a much deserved glowing review of our dermatology practice on yelp and they thanked us by sending us to their box seats (included dinner and parking!) for the Demi Lovato/Nick Jonas concert.

By the time Steve and I got to the Talking Stick Arena I looked (and felt) like death warmed over.  I took a large box of Kleenex in with me (that was fun for the purse police to look at, I'm betting), cough drops, cold meds and prayed I could get through the night.

Steve was mostly back to normal by that day, I was just dying.

It was a good show but I must say I think I probably would've enjoyed it much more if I had been healthy.

All weekend I was floating with all the hot lemonade, tea and water I kept drinking.  By Monday, Adam was obviously in no condition to care for the kids and neither was I-but between us we somehow managed to get through the day. 

Thankfully, Tuesday Steve had the day off so we let him do the "heavy lifting".  Adam still in pain, me still not breathing and everything spasming from the by-products of this head cold and the household of pets 1/2 of which are still learning the rules of where to do your "pottying".

Sigh.  During the afternoon break when the kids were sleeping and Adam was napping I decided that this was a very good time to take our dogs and me home. 

Early that morning, Sunshine threw up and started us off at 6 a.m..  Seems like her namesake, our little newbie also likes to keep Pepper's litter box clean and it upsets her stomach-she's been doing this routine all week!

In fact, this morning I was planning on taking a nap once Steve left for work-but poor Sunshine started throwing up at 6 again, this time on the sheets.

Just as well, no sense sleeping in vomit and cold germs.

Yesterday I saw the ortho and he was pleased with my knee's progress and told me to limit my walking, keep the water aerobics and remember-he didn't cure my knee, just plugged up the hole.  His hope is that this works for at least a year.

As he was telling me this-he was rubbing in hand sanitizer on all of his revealed skin.  Can't blame him one bit.

It's been 10 days since my "latest and greatest" sickness hit me.  I have a chapped face, sore throat, a nose that's on fire when I breathe, sore lungs and my neck, lower back and bad shoulder are screaming at me.  But I can't just rest.  Nope, I had the older boys yesterday and did homework, snacks and drinks-the same today and tomorrow.

My plans for this weekend?  Just hoping that I'll be able to actually rest. 

I hate sick.  It feels as awful as it looks and yet it seems that there's always the fact that others still need your help from the littlest new members of the family who need to realize that litter doesn't make the best of snacks to the adults who just need a helpful extra hand.