No Sick Day for Mom

Let’s face it, getting sick is the pits.  Unfortunately, everyone gets sick from time to time, even moms.  When mom gets sick, however, there usually isn’t someone to take care of her, telling her to rest.  Nor is there anyone to cook mom soup or give her medicine. 

When mom gets sick, life goes on just like normal for the entire family.  This past weekend, on Sunday (yes Mother’s Day), I got sick.  Luckily it wasn’t until the evening that I started feeling really yucky, so I was able to enjoy most of the day.  Thank God for small blessings!

I had been feeling “off” all day, but just attributed it to being tired from having a busy Saturday.  My oldest son, Joey, made his on Saturday and we celebrated with a wonderful party at our house.  We also had a baseball game for my younger son that morning, so between sports, church and entertaining all day, I didn’t give it much thought that I was feeling so run down on Sunday. 

As Sunday progressed I kept feeling worse.  I didn't have a fever, but I did have  fatigue, a headache and body aches.   I hadn’t worked out in two days, so I knew the body aches weren’t exercise related.  By bedtime on Sunday I knew my “off” feeling was really that I was coming down with something.  I wasn’t sure what this mystery illness was yet, but I would have guessed it was going to be a bad cold with the way my head hurt.   

I went to bed early hoping that a good night sleep was all I needed.  I slept horribly though; I just couldn’t get comfortable because my body was so achy.  I knew Monday was going to be rough.  My children were off school because of a teacher work day, so I had a day packed full of and appointments for the boys.  Not only would I have to shuttle them all over , I was going to have to do it on little sleep while feeling awful.  It’s times like this that I wish I could call in sick. 

We all know that isn’t possible, motherhood is a 24/7 job!  With the help of Ibuprofen I was able to make it through the day and get my boys to all of their appointments.  Once my husband was home from work, I went to bed because I was utterly exhausted.  I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew I was sick.

My boys both had Fifth’s Disease earlier in the week, but since it is known as a common childhood virus, it didn’t occur to me that I could have the virus.  Besides, I didn’t even know my boys had the virus until the rash appeared.  They certainly hadn’t been acting sick at all, nor did they have a fever.  I ended up Googling “Fifth’s Disease in Adults” to see if it was possible that I could, in fact, have it. 

Lo and behold, the most common symptom in adults is joint swelling and pain.  That would explain my body aches!   Other symptoms include headache and swollen glands.  All of which I had.  Luckily, if an adult gets Fifth’s Disease, they don’t always get the rash.  I have to admit, I can deal with the body aches but the rash, that’s another story.  The rash looks nasty!    My poor Andrew has the rash bad.  He says it doesn’t bother him, which is good.

I started feeling better by Tuesday and don’t have too much of a rash.  My arms are a little itchy, but nothing bothersome.  I still can’t believe that I came down with this childhood virus.  I wish I would have had it as a kid, because as an adult it was no fun.  Even though I wasn’t able to call in sick, at least I can find comfort knowing that I will never have Fifth’s Disease again!