I Wish it Was Strep

I know, it's been a week since our whirlwind visit to Phoenix, and the post I keep promising will be anticlimactic by the time I get it up here.

This time I have a good excuse: Megan came home from school on Thursday feeling poorly, and her throat ached so badly on Friday that I kept her home. By afternoon, she was running a fever... and yesterday, her sore throat was bothering her so much that I wondered if it was strep. Our pediatrician was kind enough to squeeze in an appointment during their limited Saturday hours (crucial, since with the three-day weekend, they are closed for President's Day). So I dragged her down there, hoping to leave with an antibiotic prescription that would knock the infection right out.

But I got the news I did not want: It's not strep, but that nasty flu that we had managed to avoid -- so far.

"Did you get the flu shot?" our doctor asked. I shook my head no, feeling guilty.

"It's not working this year," she said. "The virus is mutating too quickly. They have to completely change the way they make the vaccine for next year."

Suddenly, I didn't feel so bad. After all, how lousy would it be to get the shot and then find out it was useless?

(My husband read that the vaccine is working for about 40% of the people who took it this year. That still leaves a whopping 60% who are probably pissed off that they did everything they could and STILL caught the flu.)

So now we've finished Day Three of Sick Kid Watch. We've spent a relative fortune on Pay Per View movies, hard candies and Children's Motrin. She feels almost not bad when the latter is working; at this minute, she's playing Endless Ocean on the Wii. But in a couple of hours, the medication will wear off and she'll turn into this listless, miserable lump of a thing, with little energy to do much but lay on the couch and complain about how lousy she feels.

Actually, the weekend hasn't been so bad, because I am not alone. We got out of the house yesterday morning to visit the doctor and then my husband stayed home with Megan while I went to the gym and did some grocery shopping. I worked out again this morning.

But tomorrow, I may begin to go stir-crazy, and if she doesn't get better quickly, I'll be a basket case by Wednesday.

Especially if I catch the damned virus, too.

Even if I haven't finished the Phoenix post, I've been busy elsewhere. I've officially joined the MOMocrats and I'm also now a contributor at a new blog for "mid life moms" (currently under construction - title still to be determined). Read my latest post here. And if you haven't already voted for my travel post on the French Tourism website, go there now! You (and I) could win a trip to Martinique!