Coffee Break with Liz and Kate

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My teenager is not a good patient when she’s sick. Case in point? It’s Friday night and she’s complaining of a suspected sinus infection and a bad headache.
“Can I get you something to eat?”
“I don’t know…”
“Are you thirsty?”
“I don’t know…”
“Well, what do you know?”
“I don’t know…”

I ladled out soup for the rest of us, then returned to the family room for dinner around the TV (it was the  weekend – back off). About   five minutes later, a scratchy little voice said, “Can I have some of your soup?”

“Of course you can honey.”

Talk about a regrettable decision…

Because in no time  she was shivering with a nice  case of the chills. By the next morning, her status hadn’t improved and we were in the midst of a holiday weekend. Luckily, there’s a doctor in the family.

Or maybe that wasn’t so lucky after all. Because the first thing I heard after an on-the-spot, out-of-office check-up was swine flu.

“What?!? Impossible!!”

Or was it? Maybe all the hype wasn’t hype afterall. And if it wasn’t hype – and was pig flu, I’d eaten after her, putting myself in jeopardy as well. I don’t know what was worse – the possibility of pig flu, or the fact that the holiday weekend would mean a definitive diagnosis was three days away.

After my momentary (and severe) attack of panic, I decided to take a proactive stance, sterilizing everything I could get my hands on – pillows, blankets, dishes – you name it. Then I got out the disinfectant spray, leaving no surface untouched.

I decided maybe I could do my own diagnosing as well.

I looked for obvious signs – the corkscrew tail, the flat round nose. Nothing.

I asked her if she had any desire to root around in a mud hole. Negative.

With that, I decided it was no longer worth my unfounded panic – we’d wait it out, hope for the best, and pop Vitamin C like it was going out of style.

Thankfully, it turns out it’s not pig flu. I’ve learned a thing or two along the way. Namely, no one will be stealing a drink from my glass or a bite of food from my plate, no matter how pathetic they look.

And I’ll need a few more cans of disinfectant spray, because flu season is still a month away.

-Liz

Enjoy your Coffee Break.

Want to submit your own story to be considered for the Guest Headline post to run on Fridays?  Just let us know at lizandkate@live.com.

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