Me: So, has your child had a fever with all of this?
Parent: Oh yes, he had a fever two nights ago.
Me: How high?
Parent: Um, I'm not sure. I didn't take his temperature. But it was high.
Me: ARGH!
Anyway, I crawled into bed at 7 pm, crawled back out when I realized I was too hungry to fall asleep and Eric wasn't going to be home anytime soon, crawled back in at 9 pm, and fell asleep. I woke up Thursday morning with pseudo-intentions of getting up, but ended up calling in sick and sleeping until noon. Fifteen hours, and I did NOT feel exhausted in any way, shape or form prior to that! That's what I call being actually sick.
I felt much better yesterday, so I'm hoping it's not the flu (flu usually lasts 3-7 days). But just a reminder: if you're between the ages of 6 months - 4 years, or older than 50, or the caregiver of someone between the ages of 0 months - 4 years or older than 50, or a healthcare worker, then you need to go get a flu shot. Children under the age of 9 receiving the shot for the first time in their lives need to get 2 shots this year. I also highly recommend that if you come into close contact with me at all, you should get the shot, even if you don't fall into any of the above categories (meaning Eric). And no, the flu shot cannot give you the flu (it's a killed vaccine). But you can get the flu shot and still get the flu -- it would be a different strain of flu not included in this year's vaccine, though.
Get vaccinated! Staying home sick when you're over the age of 10 is not fun!
Next post: How to use over-the-counter cold medicines properly and what to expect of them.
Posts
3 comments:
There should be a job-specific vaccine for pediatricians, elementary and preschool teachers, and anyone else in constant contact with little people. I remember my mother getting sick every October or November after several weeks' exposure to her second-graders
I have to disagree with your last statement. Sometimes being sick enough to justify staying home sick is a certain perverse pleasure. I remember not being able to lift my head off the pillow and still being kind of giddy (fever-induced, maybe?) that I was NOT AT WORK!!!
Yeah, what I didn't mention was that by noon Thursday I actually felt a lot better already, so I got up and did laundry and dishes and cleaning and other things I'd been putting off. It would have been more fun if I had been sicker and could have stayed in bed or on the couch. I still got a lot of couch and TV time, but it's not quite the same when you can't ask someone else to make chicken soup for you and you have to make it yourself.
True, and, as Paige pointed out, you can't really indulge your sickness if you have someone else to take care of. I'm speaking only of the pleasure of being sick ALL ALONE (I don't even mind heating up my own soup if I don't have to be pleasant to anyone!)
Post a Comment