We have the plague!

This is what a child who is too sick to play looks like. He was in the midst of "the plague" when I took that picture. At least, that's what I'm calling it. Come to find out, it is a distinct possibility that we all have/had the flu, but there is no way to prove that at this point.

It all started with Luke, who was shivering uncontrollably when he went to bed Saturday night (Dec 6). The thermometer said his temperature was normal when I put him to bed, but I was highly skeptical. Sure enough, by Sunday morning, his fever was 101.7 F (38.7 C). It continued to hover in the 101-102 range (38.3-38.8) even *after* giving him a fever reducer, which did not make this mama happy at all. Things were no better Monday morning, and the cough was dramatically worse, so off to the doctor he went. She basically glanced at him, listened to the symptoms, diagnosed him with "something viral," and sent him home with no tests or meds or anything, declaring that "if he isn't better by Thursday, then bring him back." That made me an even less happy mama. The fever was gone by Tuesday morning, but he was completely exhausted, so he stayed home another day. I finally sent him back to school on Wednesday, still coughing but allegedly meeting the requirements for returning to school.

By Thursday afternoon, my fever spiked up to 101. Now, this was not unexpected, given that I had shared some of my drink with Luke on Saturday, before he started showing symptoms. By Friday morning, I was showing a temperature of 102, and that was within 2 hours of taking *both* Advil and Tylenol. You know how you read in historical novels about the skin of someone with a fever feeling thin and papery? That's exactly what mine felt like all day Friday. Everything hurt, even on constant doses of pain relievers/fever reducers. You know the stud earrings that I wear All. The. Time. Yeah, I had to take those out, too, because they hurt and felt heavy. ??!!! It was awful. I spent most of Saturday with my fever yo-yo-ing from normal to well over 100 and back, and with the cough getting much worse, though still manageable on maximum strength Mucinex and a zillion gallons of water.

Sunday, I was feeling much better (in a relative sense; still quite sick), but DH started shivering in late morning. Really?! I was hoping I had mainly gotten it from unknowingly sharing a drink with Luke before we knew better, but we thought we had been pretty careful with DH. Upon describing our symptoms to my mom, she said that everyone she knew with our symptoms who had been tested had tested positive for flu. Great. So if the pediatrician had bothered to test Luke last Monday when we took him in with *classic* flu symptoms, we could have all been put on Tamiful and likely either avoided or lessened the severity of what we've all been through (or in DH's case, are currently going through). But at this point, Luke is over it (we hope), I'm too far past the 48 hour window for Tamiflu to do any good, and DH can't get to the doctor until Monday, when he too will be past the 48 hour window. Thanks for nothing, doc.

So the current status is: Luke is mostly over it, though his cough has gotten worse again. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping he hasn't developed a secondary infection as a result of this thing. I am mostly better, though the cough is still hanging on. I'm praying I can keep it from becoming bronchitis (as I am prone to doing with any type of respiratory thing). DH is currently down for the count in bed, and will be through at least Tuesday (and Wednesday, if I have my say about it). I can't believe we've only been at this for a week or so. Feels like a month already! I just want us all to be well by Christmas. Pretty please, Santa? That's all I really want!
Currently feeling: improved but still not well