This past week has been Consumed By Influenza. First Mrs. Lamech picked up a bug that turned very quickly into an Overpowering Cough a week ago. I took Noah to our sunday school class' lunch without her and she was very much missed. By the time we were heading back home she said she couldn't take any more and we had to see a doctor. So I dropped Noah off at his grandparents and took her to the ER. The whole experience from checking in to driving away took about 4 hours and set me back nearly a weeks' pay, but it was worth it since she turned out to have pneumonia. We got some big painkillers and a big antibiotic. I stayed home from work so she could rest while I dealt with Noah. Then it got weird.
I went into work Tuesday not feeling too hot. Before I thought I had gotten a touch of some bug on Friday and had passed it onto Mrs. Lamech, who for some reason just had much worse symptoms than me. How wrong I was. Cranked out my big meeting agenda email and headed back home. Mrs. Lamech was actually feeling better and had taken Noah to school, so by this point I was thinking she was on the mend and would be taking care of me the next day.
Wrongo!
Next day we're *both* feeling horrible, coughing, feverish, achy. Only now Noah's got it too. We're going through various adult and children's NSAID preparations at a furious rate. Thursday I try going into work again, but it's pretty much the same deal as Tuesday: lots of coughing and my energy level craters around lunchtime. Then Mrs. Lamech calls me and says she's had an unbearable headache all day. Just for grins I do a quick google search on the name of her antibiotic. Turns out "Levoquin" is relatively new, very strong, and can cause hallucinations, nausea, headache, and other stuff, most of which she's had only 4 days into the 10 day regimen. Going home I try to hit the highway to make the trip faster, but a semi-trailer (hauling chocolate of all things) has overturned and shut it down in both directions for the whole afternoon.
Friday was I think my worst day. Slept some but mostly spent the whole day on the couch, barely able to move with the aching. Passed out around 7:30PM. But all of us were still coughing the evil, wheezing cough.
Friday was the day I determined to wake up and pray for relief instead of reaching for another Motrin first. I wasn't necessarily giving up on drugs, because the Motrin was the only thing getting in the way of our fevers. But I definitely felt at the breaking point emotionally. It felt awful to be unable to either work to bring money home, or to help take care of my wife and son while they were sick. I was tired of being sick of course, but I was tired of everything else too -- tired of TV, computers, sleeping, eating, reading -- TIRED.
Saturday Mrs. Lamech felt good enough to take Noah to a big kiddie event we had been planning on for some time. I was too achy to go, I knew. They came back 3.5 hours later completely exhausted. I think she strained half the muscles in her right arm and shoulder carrying Noah back to the car -- ahh, more pain! I trudged out into the night to pick up some Mexican food which as it turned out I could barely taste. When a 230-pound Texan is satisfied with eating one measly taco al pastor and leaves the second one untouched, there is a problem. I went to bed at 7:30 or so again and slept a full 12 hours.
Now today. I stayed home with the kiddo this time while Mrs. Lamech did church. She brought lunch home. I rubbed her shoulder and arm to bring a small amount of relief but it has been killing her all day. We're all still coughing although noticeably less often. I think today was my first full day with no fever. Today was also my third full day with no caffeine at all -- weird because I had become a 3-cup per day addict over the past 2 years. Also we listened to a lot of music today (a 1-hour pipe-organ show on the public station was awesome) instead of non-stop DVD and TV.