wednesday bonus blog: being sick sucks

so today . . . i've been thinking about the swine flu.

i don't watch the news or read the newspaper, because frankly, it is just all too depressing. so the only news i get is when someone says to me, "did you hear about . . . ?" to which i usually reply, "no." and then they will tell me. i figure this way i hear about the news that the people around me think is important, and i don't worry about the rest of it--if something major happens, i am confident that someone i know will tell me about it. this is how i learned about the swine flu.

one of the teachers at my school just returned from mexico. her grandfather died a couple of weeks ago, and so she travelled down there to be with her family. while she was there, the swine flu break-out was reported. her family decided to come home a little early, but had a hard time getting an earlier flight out. and by the time they got to the airport, everyone was wearing surgical masks. she said it was a little unsettling. and then she arrived home early only to be told to stay home for two more days--just in case she had been exposed.

i understand taking precautions. someone asked what we were doing to address the possible encroachment of this sickness in our school. apparently the health department recommends washing hands often and for at least three minutes each time. "do you realize," i said to our director, "that since we have only one sink and 15 children, it is going to take us 45 minutes for every child in our classroom to wash their hands for 3 minutes each JUST ONE TIME?!" that is what i SAID. this is what i was THINKING "good grief! all we will do all day is have kids stand in line to wash their hands. maybe we should just all take a week off, and let them stay at home where their exposure would be more limited." someone suggested using hand sanitizer, but we were told that it wasn't strong enough to kill these germs. so maybe the best i can hope for is that the dreaded virus will get lost on it's way to destroy us . . .

anyway, in response to the swine flu epidemic, i am posting a blog about being sick. actually, i wrote a couple of sick blogs, but this was the first. it was originally posted on february 8, 2008, which happened to be a friday.

ok, so rollie has been sick for most of three weeks. he got sick suddenly and was sick for a week. then he felt a bit better, so of course, being a man, he went back to work. he worked for a few days, and then got sick again. he has been down this time for 10 days! now i am not complaining about him being sick, because he is NOT one of those whiny crybaby sick boys that some of you may be familiar with. he still takes a shower every morning and shaves and brushes his teeth no matter how sick he is. and all he requires of me is to bring him food once in a while. so again i am not complaining about him being sick.

now go with me to my job--a kindergarten classroom. you would think that parents would keep their precious darlings home when they have a sneeze or a sniffle--but NOOOOO. mom and dad need to go to work, and OF COURSE the kids want to come to school (because they love me--even when i yell) so they come and blow their tiny noses and cough amazingly huge coughs, and then they touch things that i am also forced to touch, like pencils and staplers and zipper pulls.

the result of all of this exposure to GERMS is that i am sick. and it is supposed to be a beautiful weekend. and i can't breathe. and my nose is so sore. and nothing tastes good. and my head hurts. and it sucks.

whine whine whine

last week i was downstairs (watching something vitally important, like american idol) when rollie called to me from upstairs. he was headed for bed and was watching the news (he is one of my sources) and they were talking about the swine flu. he said they had quarantined a family in texas. and as he is telling me about it, he gets this faraway look in his eyes and says, "wow--wouldn't it be great to be quarantined?! you would get to stay home for several days, rest and recuperate, people would bring you food and no one would bother you . . . "

yeah, he is wishing for the swine flu--i think he needs a vacation . . .