Public school should have a big disclaimer attached to it, a Surgeon Generals warning, a statement from the CDC, or something stronger than the annual blurb on the evening news, that says “WARNING, sending your children to school is like throwing them into a MASSIVE BACTERIA CESSPOOL. They will get sick every other week for the entire year, and will subsequently infect every non-school going person in your household. Learn to deal with it.”
Not that a warning would really make the task of nursing sick children any easier. Its a constant stream of nose wiping and forcing medicine down their throats. There is no sleep for anyone either, because you lay awake listening to them cough and when you finally do get to sleep one of them comes and wakes you up because they need more medicine and a drink of water. And its every day worrying and wondering if its just a cold or something more, and should you take them to the doctor. You hold your breath and wait for your own nose to start plugging up and your throat to feel sore.
I think my immune system has become used to all these germs, and now I only get sick about every third time the kiddies do, and Chris maybe one in ten times. But poor Elliott, our friend who moved in with us six months ago, he gets it pretty much every time. I’m hoping his immune system will adjust soon, before he decides he needs to find a less germy place to live and harbors ill will against us forever.
The good news is that Leo seems to be getting better, and he was the first to come down with this latest sickness about a week ago. So its possible the end is in sight. Then I just hold my breath until it happens again.
Around my house, I’m known as Captain “Wash Your Hands and Take Your Damn Hands Out of Your Mouth, Don’t You Know It’s Cold and Flu Season?” It’s a long title but I think it looks fairly impressive on a resume.