MOAB

Later in the day the 25th I got a phone call from my Aunt telling me my other Aunt had died. We’d been expecting it but it’s still hard. Then the next day R found out what’s going on at work. Basically he’ll be going to two interviews next week and we’ll know what the verdict is around the middle of next month. This week has sucked. Any prayers or good thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I’ll be away trying to deal with the stress of everything. I went off my diet yesterday.. bad day… and I regret it now. It really wasn’t worth it. The Doctor told me that exercise will help with stress and/or depression.

Went fine. He was thrilled. I’ve lost 10lbs since my last visit. Guess all that walking I’ve been doing helped. Told me to keep it up and if if kept it up it would help the blood pressure, the slightly higher blood sugar, and the lower good cholesterol numbers. After I was finished we decided to go out to eat.

You probably think we got something fattening… we didn’t. We went to Subway. It was really good and it won’t destroy my progress.

BTW, Richard has lost 10 - 12 pounds too.

The kid is doing okay. Woke up this morning, walked in and jumped on the couch, said something about cartoons and after having the channel turned promptly fell asleep. Poor kid… the flu hit him hard. We’re doing his schoolwork an hour at a time with time while he’s still recovering. My mind isn’t really operating that well right now anyway.

One of my Aunts has been placed on a respirator and the family have decided to have it removed. Her Doctor wanted to give her another 48 hours to see what happens. We find out today I guess. Stress.. it’s what makes life fun…

I go for a physical Monday. I’m going to tell the Doctor that for someone with enough stress in her life to kill a bull elephant I’m doing pretty damned good. I’ve been doing the diet thing. Low-fat or non-fat, using Weight Watchers. Decided to go with that instead of counting carbs. That gets really confusing after awhile. With everything going on right now it’s easier to say I can have this much of that for 1 point. I’ve been walking. Although today I’m thinking of using my weights instead. I’m tired today and I think I’ll cut myself a little slack. I’ll put my mp3 player on and flop around on the floor like a fish.

Long day today… I can tell.

Found Delsym… my new favorite cough medicine. Richard said it even tasted good. The kid handled it better as well. R went back to work yesterday. Seems everyone in the office has been knocked back by this nasty assed bug. I know a lot of people seem to slip into pneumonia with this thing. I’m doing my best to make sure that doesn’t happen here.

I have a hell of a lot of experience with pneumonia. My Mother had it 3 or 4 times. So I know what to look out for. I’ve got the kid and R sitting up instead of lying down all the time. The crap settles in your lungs and simmers and stews… technical terms. hehe

Usually R gets a bug, then I get it… he says it must be the all the damned broccoli I’ve been eating. lol

The kid is better but he’s still exhausted. He’s been going to sleep much earlier than usual. He’s also been driving me nuts with special requests. Popsicles, ice cream, 3 muskateer bars, yadda, yadda, yadda. He has a cough but it’s rare. I’m still fighting the fight to get medicine down him.

Yesterday, I gave it everything I had for Richard. I made homemade tomato basil soup with a TON of garlic in it hoping that might help a bit. He liked it. Then I made a run down to the liquor store and bought a small bottle of Jack Daniels and made some homemade cough syrup. It helped a bit. I asked if he wanted me to make an appointment with the Doctor and he said if he went to the Doctor they wouldn’t be able to do anything for him. (He’s allergic to codeine so he couldn’t take a cough syrup with codeine in it which is probably the only thing that would stop the cough.) I’m beginning to wonder if what is wrong with Richard is sinuses. He complains of a headache behind his eyes, typical sinus headache, he seems to have some kind of drainage, and he complains that his throat is scratchy. He says that’s what makes him cough. I’m going to try something for sinuses and see if that helps.

It seems like everyone around here has this creeping crud. The cashier at the 7-11 told me that she thought she’d fought it off and has it again. She was nearly hospitalized before because she couldn’t breathe. The cashier at the liquor store told me except for himself his whole family has it. He took them to the Doctor and it hasn’t helped.

Amazingly enough I seem to be the only one who hasn’t come down with it. Usually I just have to blink and I’ve got the latest bug. Maybe it’s all this green shit I’ve been eating or the amount of garlic I eat. (Hey, you have to have some flavor in diet food. lol) They have sneezed or coughed on everything in the house… including in my face. Bless their hearts they can’t help it. Which reminds me I need to wipe down my keyboard. I try to keep a little distance between us… oh I hug them and take care of them.. but at this point I’m the only one who is totally mobile. The official step and fetch it has to take care of herself or we’re all screwed. lol

Oh joy.. just noticed it’s valentines day.. if everyone would get over this crap that would be a fine present for me.

Managed to get some tylenol down the kid… he couldn’t keep it down yesterday. His temp is running lower than yesterday too. Bless his heart he’s unhappy and uncomfortable. I brought Mitchell, his mammoth, in to keep him company. Richard’s arranged to take a sick day off monday night. I have to go to the store in a bit.. the kid has requested more sprite.

Yesterday I was doing fine… now my arms and hands are killing me. I hope I don’t end up with this shit.

Richard has another cold and Joshua woke up this morning sick and threw up on my clean carpet. lol Better to laugh than cry. I think the kid feels a little better now. Convincing him to take it easy for the rest of the day has been a challenge. Me? I’m fine. I went to the store and bought some shrimp to make something special for Richard since he’s felt like crap. I’m making shrimp creole and when I told him he said that it sounded really good. R’s been really good about the switch in food to non-fat and more vegetables. He deserves a treat.