Alex hasn’t been feeling well for the last 6 days, she claims it has been for much longer, but I know better. I had her stay home from school the past two days, and today she is feeling much better. Alex is much like her daddy in that she experiences things to the extreme. They are my Chicken Little’s. It’s never a cold, it’s got to be pneumonia. They never sprain anything, they almost break it. Well, I got news for ya, much like being pregnant, either you are or you aren’t. You don’t almost break anything, either you do or you don’t.
I noticed Ray’s total oblivion to any ones suffering, other than his own, the time he came home from work to find me asleep on the loveseat with a fever of 103. He pokes at me until I wake up and says, “Why are you asleep? Did you know the kids have trashed the house? Do you plan to cook?” I’m not even sure he paused between questions.
I hurt all over from the fever and my throat was so sore I was choking on my own spit. I looked up at him, decided he was a bad dream and rolled over mumbled something like “Yes I’m sick, leave me alone.” It was touch and go for a couple of days and Ray was a goober the whole time. He can’t stand it if I get sick, never has. I think he is so used to me being capable and taking care of things, that it turns the house upside down if I am under the weather. I have been since told, jokingly of course, “Don’t get sick.” Uhhhh, Okkkkkk, I’ll do my best.
A couple of days later, I was feeling better, but he came down with whatever I had. (snicker) That first morning he woke up feeling bad he moaned and groaned. I asked him what was wrong? Aren’t you getting up and going to work? It turned out he was sicker than he had ever been in his life, he was nigh unto death, according to him. Thankfully he lived.
Alex, as I mentioned, is much like her daddy. She gets sicker than the rest of us, runs higher fevers than any of us, etc and so forth, (although, she has either A. Not even taken her temp or B. Continues to run around as if nothing is wrong.)
She says she got sick on Saturday and was running a fever of 104. Miraculously this high fever didn’t seem to slow her down much. She continued to attend evening softball games, and this illness didn’t seem to deter her from any of her other running around until Tuesday, that’s when she text-ed me from school saying she “has strep”. Really, strep! Because her throat is sore?
I told her the time she had spent out in the pollen and wind was more than likely the culprit, not strep. I went on to inform her that she had never had strep before, what exactly was she experiencing that made her feel like she had it now? She looked at me with a shocked expression. “I’ve NEVER had strep throat before?!” Nope, never. In fact, you have only been on an antibiotic once in your life, you were two and it was for an ear infection. She felt sure that she had been afflicted with something much more serious than an ear infection when she was two, was I sure that I hadn’t forgotten?
Bless her heart. Don’t get me wrong, she was very sick these last couple of days, that is why I made sure she stayed home from school. I vicksed her up and made her gargle with water and peroxide, dosed her up with Motrin after she had run a fever for a couple of hours, made sure she sprayed Saline nasal spray up her snot locker, and kept her pumped full of fluids. I’m not big on giving my kids fever reducers the minute they get a fever, I think your body needs a chance to get that white cell count up and fight what ails you. Actually, I am proud to say that Abby has never been on an antibiotic or any other prescription and Alex has only had the meds that one time when she was two. I’m telling ya, they shouldn’t look down their noses at my Granny Clampett ways.
In between taking care of Alex, I kept busy around the house whittling away at the back log of laundry piled up around here. I was so excited, I had fresh sheets on the bed and every body’s clothes folded and mostly put away, all that was left was for me to hang up a few more of mine and Ray’s clothes. I love it when I get all my laundry put away! Ok, actually I could live out of clothes baskets and never skip a beat, Ray is the one, for some strange reason needs his clothes put away. So actually, I was doing it out of my desire to please him.
The excitement was short lived though, Ray came dragging in this evening with a sore throat and Abby filled the laundry room up with all the dirty clothes she had been hording in her room. I came back into my bedroom to finish putting away the clothes on my bed just in time to find Ray fussing at the dog. It seems that she was laying on top of his clean clothes and apparently was so upset by Ray getting onto her, she peed all over Ray’s pile of clothes clear through to the mattress pad! Yep, not the perfect end to the day by any stretch of the imagination. Oh, Alex feels much better and Ray’s throat is closing up, he is certain of it…..
