OK, I don’t know anyone who likes the flu but having the flu at the same time you are caring for someone who also has the flu is … an even unhappier experience. I’ve always had sympathy for moms (and other primary caregivers, but let’s face it moms have had to deal with a LOT of sickness over the years!). But I have newfound admiration for flu-ish moms dealing with flu-ish children!

It’s been two weeks since my mother was diagnosed with Influenza A and began the icky journey through coughing, sneezing, experiencing fatigue, feeling fever-ish, dealing with diarrhea, and so on. My parallel journey began a few days later. However, this was really the first time that I also had the added role of caregiver – making sure we didn’t starve, doing laundry, jumping up to get juice or water … ugh! Changing and washing the bedding alone drove me to frequent napping.

Mom and I are pretty lucky – we generally don’t get these long, drawn out illnesses. Maybe we have a headache or nausea from time to time, but it goes away pretty quickly. Maybe we were due! This year is said to be a bad year for illness, with COVID, the flu, RSV, and other various bugs floating around. Getting sick is not really as out of the blue as one might expect.

Finally, we are nearly back to normal. Still coughing – a recent work call led to a colleague sharing that her cough lasted for a month! Yikes. I think I need another nap.