December 19, 2008

The light at the end of the tunnel


Well, Ralf ended up not going to Ireland - my sweet husband who almost cooks for me decided his family was too sick to leave alone. K had a nasty cough attack yesterday and it turns out she does have an ear infection but we found a great ENT (referred to as 'HNO' here) who is treating her without antibiotics. He taped some weird seaweed behind her ear and we haven't heard a complaint since. Anyway, after K slept for 48 hours straight without eating a little ear infection seems almost like an old friend.

I had a bad night coughing but today feels better. I haven't coughed once all morning. The girls ate pancakes for breakfast and are upstairs making Christmas presents for Ralf's parents. It's snowing outside, the tree is twinkling and it's starting to look a lot like Christmas.

I am also in better charity with the doctor I went to after an illuminating discussion with Ralf. I asked him why anyone would bother going to a doctor if they weren't in need of relief. He told me that in fact, most people go to doctors with a cold here not to get a prescription but to skive out of work. Well. Who knew a cold could get you out of work? And sure enough, this doctor did give me a 2 day hall pass, which I forgot about in my purse and have no intention of flashing at work, except perhaps for the comedic value. So what we had was a failure to communicate.

The NaBloPoMo theme for December is Thankfulness and I've been much too sick to be properly thankful but I want to correct that now. Things I am grateful for:

Husbands who attempt to make chicken soup for their sick wives.

Brave little girls with green eyes who weather grown up bugs without complaining.

Sweet little babies with big blue eyes who always want to be in on the action - even if the action is zonking.

Purring orange cats who sleep on the dining room table in full glory when everyone's sick.

Frangrant Christmas trees that make it seem like Christmas.

Fluffy snow flakes that are safely outside.

Floor heating.

Family that still love you even when you're sick.

Friends that check in on you to make sure you're OK and think positive thoughts for you.

Christmas cookies.

And the 10 pounds I lost right before Christmas during my bout with the plague, reminding me that there's always a silver lining.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

6 comments:

  1. Your counter of meds looked just like mine! Glad to read you are turning the corner. Enjoyed reading your list - feel quite jealous about the fluffy snowflakes - 31 deg outside today here in South Africa but that is an African Christmas for you!

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  2. I'd like an order of plague, please. to go.

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  3. So glad you are feeling better. We're all sniffling over here, but nothing worse yet. Love to K and L...and DH Ralf who just proved what a truly enlightened husband he is

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  4. Where can I get some of that "weird seaweed"??? Does it only work for ears or can I tape it elsewhere?

    Snow? Don't talk to me about snow. Snow and I are not on speaking terms...

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  5. R Max: I wasn't at the doctor and Ralf unfortunately can't remember what it was called. I think it's just for ears. But although K has so far escaped an infection, it took all the skin off the back of her ear. Literally. So we removed the patch and we're kind of scared of it now.

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  6. I got an offer at urgent care to get a "note from the dr." as well. I thought that was pretty funny. Sadly I didn't lose any 10lbs in the plague here, although our experiences sound very familiar.

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