I want to full-on, smooch all over the person who invented Tamiflu because without this little wonder drug, I wouldn’t be posting at all.   Instead, I’d be cleaning up projectile vomit for the second night in a row and wishing I would just die and put myself out of my own misery.  But I’m leaping ahead of my entire week and starting with the ending.  While this is just like me, I figure if you’re reading you want the entire recap and not just praise of my new H1N1-destroying wonder drug.

Honestly, last week was a blur.  I’ve been on the verge of getting sick for almost two weeks.  I’d wake up in a stuffy head, sore throat, aching body induced haze.   And I had a myriad of excuses to explain away what was happening.  First, I blamed my malady on quitting soda.   Then I blamed allergies.    And finally, I decided it was all in my head and I would just ignore it… and suck down copious numbers of Halls with Vitamin C because you can never have enough Vitamin C, right?

Then I was too busy dealing with life to be sick.   Drue needed to be chauffeured to Honors Orchestra and horse back riding, there was a mountain of laundry and dry cleaning to finish for Drama Club, there was Drama Club itself and in between all of that was a fall party to coordinate for Drue’s class, Mom’s birthday party and anything else that appeared and demanded my attention.   And in between all the doing, I snuck in occasional naps, sucked down Vitamin C, and pretended that absolutely everything was fine, really!     And then all of a sudden I was fine.   After a few nights where I managed to cram in 8-10 hours of sleep, bundling up in the house, sneaking naps and Vitamin C and downing as much chicken noodle soup as humanly possible, I woke up on Friday and felt okay.    Given that Friday I had two hours to get to school, pick up the light board, get to Chantilly and get back to school to set up for the party, I was so thankful I was okay I almost cried.

Drue and friends make scarecrows

The party started at 11 and ended at 2:30 with a parade.  During those two and a half hours, the kids made scarecrows, gak and consumed sugar before dressing up for the parade.   Once the parade was underway, I rushed from the school to the house to pack up for the weekend.  The dog, the suitcases and I were back at school by 3:30 to pick up Drue to head to North Carolina.    During the drive down, I realized that of all I had accomplished that week, not getting overwhelmingly sick trumped replying to proposal requests and any momentum on my 101 things.

Halloween came and went, Mom and I went to see Paranormal Activity, and then… birthday time!    I woke up early Sunday morning with my old symptoms back.  When Drue emerged from the bathroom looking worse than I felt, I knew that she had caught whatever I had.   While I felt blindsided by a Yugo, Drue had been hit by a mack truck and after brunch, we visited the Urgent Care and my diagnosis was confirmed.   Drue’s body had been invaded while mine was thus far winning the good fight.   The doctor gave us a prescription for Tamiflu which we filled immediately and then headed for Mom’s house.

Creep Cakes for Mom's Birthday

While Drue rested, I made creep cakes for Mom’s birthday.     Around 5:00, Mom and Jason headed out to her party while I fed Drue.    While Tamiflu is wonderful, the number one and two side effects are nausea and vomiting.  Drue, being my daughter, does not go for the minimum.  So instead of just vomiting, she projected it all over her, the towel, her dishes, and the bed clothes.    Once I got her and everything around her cleaned up, Drue passed out and I accepted that I might get sucked back into the sick I had somewhat avoided thus far.

So today I slept and coughed and begged my temperature to stay around 100.   I sucked down half a pack of Halls Vitamin C drops on the way back to Virginia from North Carolina.  And I promised all the powers that be that if they would just give me until January 6th, they could attack me full force and send me to bed for a week or two if they like.    But not this week!   No, this week I will continue to move forward with my 101 things and complete the to-dos for Drama Club and slowly get back on track… once I answer a few proposals, sneak in a few naps and complete half a cycle of Tamiflu.

Because really, at this point, who can afford to get sick?   Not I.