"You're both in trouble," I tell my husband and son. Husband asks why,
while Bug just keeps trying to get me to ignore him so he can go back to
sleep. "Because I think I'm coming down with something." "'Bout time,"
Husband says. "Hey! That's not nice!" "Well, the rest of us have all
been sick." It's true: Husband and both kids, congested, coughy, achy,
and whiny (which NyQuil cures that?) for the past few weeks. Bug has had
three ear infections - four if you count that this round both ears got
their fair share of bacteria. And Husband? Sick on Mother's Day. Hmmph!
Like any competent mom, I waited until everyone else got better before I
let myself get sick. My guess is that the germs can't get you while
you're running downstairs to dose some Mucinex, running upstairs with
the Tylenol, or back to the store for more tissues - with lotion,
because the noses are sore enough already. Once you get the kids back to
school and sit down to watch last week's Bones, BOOM! That's when germs
getcha. Of course, all the popsicles and lotiony tissues are gone, along
with the only other member of the household with a driver's license to
pick you up some decongestant.
I immediately reach for the zinc lozenges and boil some water for the echinacea tea. I also take a good dose of good, old-fashioned denial that I'm actually sick. "It's not so bad," I think, "I'll take my vitamin C and be better overnight."
Two days, multiple lozenges and mugs of tea later, my throat is just a hint of sore. At least I lucked out and bypassed the persistent cough and whininess** that plagued the rest of my family. I'm no doctor, but apparently it's sound science, talking yourself out of an illness.*
*I'm pretty sure. It could possibly - maybe - have been the vitamins and extra rest, though.
**Husband is not allowed to offer his opinion of my suffering from this symptom.
