Strep, Strep, and More Strep

I took Flanna to the doctor today, and she has strep.  Then, I wasn't feeling very well, so I went to my doctor.  And I have strep, too. 

Lovely. 

This is a busy work week for me.  I have so much to do at work and a short timeline in which to get it all done. I was thinking I would just push on through and go to work tomorrow.  But then I called my friend from work to chat about the plan for tomorrow, and she talked some sense into me. 

"You have strep, TJ!  You need to stay home and get better!"

And suddenly it seemed crazy to push on through while I'm sick. I mean, really, the world will not fall apart just because I'm out for a day. 

Don't you love it when you have a friend who tells you when you're being crazy? 



What's your favorite way to help yourself feel better when you're sick?  Flanna and I had hot peppermint tea with honey today, and chicken noodle soup, and popsicles.  And my throat really did feel better after all those wonderful liquids.  :)

Toes in the River

We went hiking on Sunday, and the weather was actually warm enough to put our toes in the river!  It was a perfect day for hiking.   The kids were whiny that day, though, and now I guess I see why.  Flanna came down with a fever yesterday, poor thing.  So we're home resting while I try to think of inventive things she might actually take a bite/sip of while she's in her sick nonhungry mode.  Fun stuff.

A Sickly Snow Day

Poor Flanna's not feeling great.  I'm thinking she has another ear infection.  Ugh.

But we bundled her up and let her play in the ice and snow a few times today.  We made a mini sleet-man and pulled Flannery around East Campus in our homemade sled (a.k.a. a laundry basket with blankets and an old crib sheet inside, and a scarf for the handle).  The homemade sled worked amazingly well, and Flanna just loved going fast and sliding all over campus in it.

We also played "house" in a huge magnolia on campus.  The snow under the magnolias was much fluffier and easier to make into snowballs than the rest of the icy sleet/snow in our yard. We even saw some tiny squirrel tracks along the magnolia branches. 

 All in all, it was a great day!  Although I do wish Flannery was feeling better.  

What makes you feel better when you're sick?

Sick, and Tired

The more I look at this sad clown, the more I want
to paint it by numbers.

I can't stop coughing today. My voice comes and goes. I'm freezing, but I don't have a fever. My body feels achy, but I can't tell if that's from all the coughing making my body tense up so often or if I'm just achy.

And my hubby's out of town. Which means I didn't sleep well last night. I just can't fall asleep as well when things are different than normal.

I'd been feeling like I was getting sick for about a week, but rather than rest up and try to get myself well, I just kept going and going. Which in hindsight seems silly.

I mean, the world will still spin if I take a day off. The planets will remain in their orbits. But sometimes I get so caught up in all the things I need to do that resting seems, well, impossible. Not very smart, right?

So today, I took a day off. I tried to rest, although somehow I could never actually fall asleep. And, guess what? Nothing fell apart. The sun rose, the sun set, and life went on. Imagine that.

Tomorrow, I'm going to push on and take some cold medicine and get back in the saddle. Fingers crossed that my voice cooperates! I mean, a speech language pathologist with laryngitis is like a sad clown. (My husband tells this joke much better than I just did. I'm sure he's shaking his head if he's reading it now.)



What's your favorite laryngitis remedy? Honey and lemon in hot tea? Crushed vitamin C in honey? A zinc lozenge? (and yes, mom, I am gargling with warm salt water and taking garlic!) :)

Get Enough Sleep

I haven't been getting enough sleep lately. Like, pretty much for the last few weeks. So it's little wonder I'm feeling kind of sick today.

I'm taking my vitamins, taking EmergenC, eating extra garlic, and I just bought zinc lozenges today. Fingers crossed that I can ward off a big illness, because I really want to go camping as planned this weekend!

I'm also heading to bed by 8 today. I know, 8 is kind of ridiculous! But hopefully a long night's sleep will boost my immune response. Sounds plausible, right? Or even if that doesn't happen, at least extra sleep will improve my mood. When I get good sleep, I'm less easily frustrated; I'm more patient; I'm generally more lighthearted and silly. It definitely affects my happiness level.

So now, I'm off to get ready for bed. My amazing husband is taking the reigns for the evening so I can rest. He's such a lifesaver.



How do you get yourself to bed at a reasonable hour? Are there any other night owls like me who have to get up super early every day? And if so, how do you squelch your night owl tendencies?

Pass on Little Family Traditions

Last night, Flanna woke up with a croupy cough. The scary, she can't breathe sort of croupy cough that comes from nowhere. So I slept in her room all night, and stayed home with her today. My day consisted of opening popsicles, refilling vaporizers, sitting in steamy showers, watching endless hours of Caillou, and trying to come up with some creative snack or drink that Flanna would at least attempt to eat.

Poor thing, the evenings are just terrible with croup. The scary croup monster emerges at 5 p.m. and doesn't leave until the next morning at 7. So now we sit listening to the baby monitor for signs of inhalatory stridor, and in a minute I'll head to "sleep" in her bed for another night.

Fingers crossed that this illness is short lived. The one silver lining in all this is that I got to hang out all day with no other purpose but to be near Flanna. I told her about all the things my mom would do for me when I was sick, and tried to see if those things would help her feel better, too. Her favorite was having soup in a mug for dinner while sitting on the couch. And getting to sip on Sprite and Ginger Ale all day long was pretty fun, too!




What do you remember about being taken care of when you were sick as a child?

Lethargy

I've had a sore throat and lingering cough, along with lethargy and achy joints, for going on 4 weeks now, and today, I thought my throat was going to burst into flames, so I finally made a doctor's appointment. I kind of hoped it would be strep, so that I would be able to get some meds and start getting better. But the quick and dirty strep test came back negative. They'll do a culture now and let me know the results, but, ugh. I really would like to feel better, quickly.

But instead, I'm going to bed early. Gargling with salt water. Using the neti pot regularly. Taking my vitamins. Doing an old tribal ritual to cleanse my chi.

Just kidding on the last one. But seriously, I'm open to anything if it will just get me well.





What home remedies do you turn to when you're sick?

There's Regular Sick, and There's Homesick

This week, I have really felt the tug of homesickness.

As my daughter says sometimes, "I miss the green house." (that's it, our old house back in Athens, in the pics)

Maybe it's just because I've been "regular" sick, and I don't really have a good support system here yet for times when I'm sick and my hubby has a ton of deadlines at work.

Or maybe it's because I'm missing a baby shower this weekend, of a friend back home in GA whose wedding I had to miss because I had just moved. And another friend is about to go into labor at any moment. And I'd love to have been preparing the perfect vegan dish to take to her after the baby comes. But, oh, that's right, she lives states away. And another friend has gone through some trying times this week, and I would've loved to have dragged her out for a fancy coffee and a long chat. But, instead our phone conversation got inadvertently cut off when my cell phone suddenly had no signal, in my own home. And I'm tired, and have been sick, and it would've been a perfect weekend to let Flanna hang out with her grandparents for a few hours while I caught up on the laundry or maybe took a nap. But, yeah, you guessed it, said grandparents are states away. And then I kept meaning to call my sister every day, but then it was suddenly 11 pm every night, and now I haven't talked to her in eons. Seriously, eons.

Hummph.

Homesickness is sometimes worse than regular old sickness.

But, on a positive note, my hubby won an award today for having the best "poster" at a networks conference at Duke. Which is really neat. That boy's a smarty. And it's worth occasional bouts of homesickness to get to see him flourish professionally.

Worth it, but I do still get to say, "Hmmph."




Have you always lived in the same general area, or have you made big moves in your life? How have you juggled maintaining old friendships and making new ones as you've moved through your life?