Being Sick

According to my calculations... I have slept an average of 5 hours per night , no longer than 2 hours at a time for the past 2 weeks, spent $800.00 on co-pays, perscriptions, supplies and over the counter meds, gone through 3 boxes of kleenex, 2 bottles of anitbacterial hand gel, cleaned my hands too many times to keep track, whiped runny noses over 200 times, checked temps in 5 sets of ears, cried repeatedly from exhaustion into my best friend's ear, saw 4 doctors in 5 days, andswore off ever going into a public place again.
We have been sick! Although, the D&C does not count as an illness, it still required mom to be off her feet and visits (money spent) to the doctors. This was followed by Dad getting hit by the B strain flu, 6 days of high fever and bedrest so I had to play single mom. While dad was down and out, Pace and Scout were hit hard with nasty head and chest colds that required nebulizer treatments, antibiotics and lots of kleenex. Just when we thought the tide was turning, Dash came down with 104.8 fever and a quick trip to the Dr. Lucky for us dr did a nose swab found it was HiB (HB influenza- super name for B strain flu) which carries 4-7 days of high fever, high risk of pnuemonia and upper respitory infection. Only problem was that the only one to have the flu already was dad, so Pace, Scout and I were left as targets. Off to the pharmacy for trip #4 to pick up Tamiflu for us three to prevent us from getting it. Dash rounds the corner, after a few scary moments... we actually got to hunt eggs and then mom comes down with sore throat, itchy eyes and a terrible head cold! AAHH, not to mention a little infection from the procedure we had a few weeks ago... back to the pharmacy and bed for mom.
Finally, it looks like we see the light at the end of the tunnel! We may be out of quarantine tomorrow! I can put up the clorox, kleenex and thermometer. Sounds like a downer huh? You know what though, I am blessed that we have a light at the end of the tunnel... makes me think about those parents who have children fighting sickness that doesn't get better with a whipe of the nose and a dose of antibiotics. Parents who stay up all night next to their child's hospital bed. Parents that would give anything to have one more day with their child. Being sick stinks, but being sick also makes you realize it how precious life is and how truly blessed we are when the ones we love get better!