so it begins
monday, december 2, 2002


taz is home today because last night it sounded like he was trying to hack up a lung. and today he added his lovely, almost constant, "my ear hurts."

and so begins the annual sick season.

in this house, disease starts with the kids. if i'm lucky, it goes straight to saxy, then i get it. if i'm not lucky i get it both before and after saxy. if i'm really unlucky, it will bounce between saxy and me for a month or more.

illness is such bad news when you're anemic.

it used to be, a few years ago, that i would feel something coming on and be able to tell myself, "ok, you can be sick one day, but then you are well." and it worked. the next day i was sick, the day after, well, i wasn't completely well, but i could function with minimal discomfort. i know, mind over disease isn't supposed to work, but it did for me.

that all changed when my iron dropped out of existence. now i get sick just looking at people who are sick and i stay sick for weeks. i can pretty much tell how long i'll be sick by how long they are sick: each day equals about a week of misery for me. i hate it.

and i dread the sick season at home. kids, who are in contact with other kids, bring home the worst bugs. i'm a parent that the second i know a kid is ill, that kid stays home (and believe it or not, they hate it. what can i say? my kids are weird - they like school; hate the homework, but like school.). not every parent is like that though. in fact, i have a feeling few parents can afford to be like that. if they aren't single parents, then both parents are working, and taking time off for sick kids isn't usually approved of even if it's "allowed." so, my kids catch everything, which means i catch everything.

i spend most of the winter and at least half the spring ill. it's depressing.

time to buy the nyquil, tylenol, chicken soup, and oj.