Down for the count...

The biggest load of hooey our pediatrician ever fed to us was that when the kidlets are little, they get sick a lot because they are "building their immune systems." I have news for you, Doc...If this was the case, then my well-built immune system would be able to keep me healthy when my little ones are sick. The way it works now is that they get sick, cough and hack all over me, then I get sick just as they are getting their energy back. I guess I'm still "building my immune system" even as an adult.

Pig Jr. was the one to infect me this time. He was home from school Monday and Tuesday of this week with what I presumed was a really nasty cold. He had no fever and was running around as if everything was perfectly normal, but his nose was running a marathon and I am fairly certain he coughed up a lung during that time. His doctor diagnosed a sinus infection layered on top of allergies, with possibly a cold thrown in for good measure. She told me to increase his nebulizer treatments (he has reactive airways and his oxygen levels needed a bit of improvement) and prescribed an antibiotic for the sinus infection. Then she told me to send him back to school on Wednesday. Well, alrighty then.

It turns out that almost half of Pig Jr.'s preschool class is out with pretty much the same thing. After talking to the school nurse, it sounds as if about half the school is suffering from a similar upper respiratory illness at the moment. I suppose one out of three kidlets at my house makes us slightly better than average then.

Well, despite washing my hands often enough that the skin is cracking and bleeding, I came down with Pig Jr.'s illness (presumably the cold part, since I can't catch his sinus infection or reactive airways) yesterday. I laugh when people tell me that washing hands is the best way to prevent getting sick. Yeah, that doesn't really help much when you have a kidlet coughing and sneezing in your face. I'm still trying to figure out why he had his energy during the worst of his cold days, but I feel ready to crawl back into bed for another four years. At least there's no fever and I can ship the kidlets off to school before taking a nap. It's harder to be sick as a parent when you have to watch the kidlets while feeling miserable.

Now go wash your hands. I'll try not to cough or sneeze on you through the Internet.