Daddy's Fish BowlA Clear View Of A Father's Family Experiences

Tre is ready to combat the Swine Flu

Some of you may have noticed the lack of posts last week, well that’s because we were all sick. Wait, let me rephrase that; my entire family was sick, and I was stuck taking care of them. That of course led to me being sick towards the end of the week. Fun times right? It’s always like that in our house, sickness is a domino effect. Once one person gets a cold, it spreads like wildfire to each member of our household until it has crippled each and every last one of us. No matter what we do to try and prevent it, there is no stopping the wrath of sickness! I have a few tips that may be able to help you, avoid the domino effect. In our home they never work completely, but I do think that they contribute to a quicker recovery.

Last week was definitely one that was out of the ordinary. I had a business trip and brought the family along with me and Fefe had her surgery to have the IUD removed. Oh yeah, on top of this already action packed week, EVERYONE got sick at some point. It all started with Ty, he’s usually the culprit. I don’t know what it is about him, but the kid brings germs into our home like they are his best friend. Last Saturday, he started with the cough; you know the cough that rarely gets covered? Yeah that cough, the one that somehow seems to occur directly over his little brother’s food. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like he does it intentionally, he’s just a kid and that’s what kids do. I remember being a kid and NEVER covering my mouth when I coughed or sneezed. Like really, you want me to basically spit into my own hand? Screw that, was the mentality that I had. At least Ty does attempt to cover his mouth; I’d say 1 out of 3 coughs/sneezes gets covered up. Unfortunately, that’s just not good enough.

Why wasn’t it enough you may ask? It wasn’t enough because both Fefe & Tre got sick during my business trip. Fefe had a very bad sore throat and nearly lost her voice, while Tre was running a fever upwards of 102 and had no appetite at all. Needless to say, the trip turned out to be a dud, because no one was able to enjoy themselves. Enjoyment was the least of my worries though; I was more focused on protection! Sadly, there was no protection to be offered, no where to run, no where to hide. Being stuck in the small hotel room for three days with 3 sick people who were coughing, sneezing, and just spreading germs every minute of the hour, meant that I would be the next to succumb to this illness. I tried my best to stay healthy in that hotel, I even tried to quarantine the sick and shut in, to no avail. So while taking care of business on this trip, I also ended up taking care of the family, which left me tired, worn out, and effectively weakened my immune system. As you probably guessed, on Wednesday when we got back home, my throat started feeling a bit sore.

I immediately started gargling with salt water and taking Cold Eeze, and for a while it worked. By the end of the day, I felt better and thought that I had successfully fended off the attack. Unfortunately, Fefe had surgery at 6am the next day and was pretty much out of commission the entire day afterwards. This meant, no rest and no sleep, which of course leads to a weakened immune system and practically invites the germs back in to attack me. At this point, Ty is of course fully recovered and bouncing off the walls and Tre is still kind of sick, but definitely milking it and taking full advantage. We somehow manage to get through the day without Fefe and I’m still feeling pretty good, so I was happy, I thought success had been obtained.

Then it hit me on Saturday, I felt like crap. Sore throat, runny nose, no energy; I got hit hard. It probably had something to do with the fact that on Friday Fefe made breakfast, and although Tre had already finished his food, he weaseled his way to my plate and effectively touched every piece of food present. He picked up my sausage, took a bite of my toast, and even grabbed some of my scrambled eggs. What I didn’t know is that he had a hand full of snot while he was doing it. Fefe had gone upstairs to get some wipes for his hands and when she came back I told her how he attacked my food. As I stuff snot soaked toast in my mouth, she asks “did you clean his hands?” I respond with “no I didn’t, why?” and then she lays it on me. She told me how he had just wiped his nose and had snotty hands. As she’s telling me this, the toast has just been swallowed and I immediately feel a sickness in the bottom of my stomach, but now it was too late, I knew what would come next and all I could do was wait for it to come. Well it came, and it’s still here! At least everyone else is almost back to full health so I can get the royal sick treatment. You better believe, I’m gonna take full advantage. So if you’d excuse me, I’m gonna ring my sick bell and summon up a glass of orange juice!

But before I go, here are those tips that I promised you! A few ways to HOPEFULLY prevent sickness, while living in a house full of sick people.

• Lysol, Lysol, Lysol! We Lysol everything to get rid of germs, we use the spray and the wipes, in an attempt to fight the spread of germs
• Cold Eeze. They may not stop you from getting sick, but I’ve found them to be effective in shortening the recovery time if you take them as soon as you feel it coming
• Vitamins (submitted by Lakaisha). I’m guilty of not taking these faithfully, but they help keep your immune system strong so should be effective in keeping you sick free
• Quarantine. If possible, keep the sick person confined to one area, that way they can get the rest they need and keep the spread of germs to a minimum
• Hand Washing. Every time that you come in contact with the sick indivual or surfaces that the sick person may have contaminated. Wash your hands, and sing the ABC’s to ensure you wash long enough.

That’s all I have for you guys, do you have any additional recommendations that you’d like to share?