Germs are only half the story. Well, maybe

This day has been over the top. Let's rewind.

December: I had a bad cough, which ended up with another round of pink eye. Because every girl in her thirties needs pink eye several times a year. Seriously. The kids don't even get it, but I never seem to escape it. We were distracted by Christmas and the Imagine Christmas production long enough to get us to the New Year.

January: Out of the blue, Hailey got sick ... that wicked stomach bug that everyone I know had. It was an intense, horrible 4 hours for my little H, but alas, she was ok. 48 hours later, Maddie started showing signs of it, and ended up staying home from school. She never did get the worst of it. Whew. But that night (through night) Chloe was up with the stomach bug. Another 24 hours. 3 days later, it hit me. Let's skip all those gory details because, well, I'm writing this and don't feel like reliving those memories again.

So keep all that in mind when I describe this week's events ...

Monday afternoon: sore throat. fine, I down some Airborne. That stuff usually knocks out anything I have and I'll be fine in a couple of hours.

Monday evening: sore throat is getting worse, Airborne didn't even touch it. Weird. Headache, too.

Tuesday: throat is still sore, head still hurts, but with Advil, life can go on. oh, and coffee.

Tuesday overnight: wake up every hour with the worst sore throat of my entire life. can't get back to sleep. Advil only takes the edge off, but well not really.

Wednesday morning: neck, head, throat is miserable; low grade fever. Called in "sick" (which means Mike works from home so I can go to doctor and not have to manage kids).

Wednesday noon: done at doctor, probably won't know if it's strep till 48 hours because the rapid test never comes back positive. PA puts me on medicine anyway, so I stop at the pharmacy. By time I get home there's a message on voicemail telling me that the rapid test DID come back positive and I have strep. Oh, and go get the girls tested, just in case they're "carriers".

Fantastic.

I leave not one, but TWO messages for the pediatrician's office. Oddly, they didn't return my call until Thursday afternoon, a full 24 hours later. I coordinate Mike to meet me at the lab to help manage 3 throat cultures.

The ped's office called today to tell me they have Hailey's back, and it's positive for strep. But they don't know about Maddie or Chloe yet. They call in a prescription, but of course she's napping so I have to wait until she wakes up to go get it and begin medicating her. This is important because now that I know she has it and is contagious, we have to stay away from everyone for 24 hours.

But don't worry. I wasn't bored during her nap time. Earlier in the day, the toilet overflowed, leaving a huge mess in the powder room and mud room to clean up. And so I did. After I got the call from the doctor's office, I decided I would start disinfecting all the toys she's touched over the past 4 weeks (did I mention that before she had the stomach bug in December she also had a wicked "cold"?). So, Chloe and I head to the basement with a huge container of Clorox Wipes.

Germs are only half the story. In the corner of the basement, where we keep all of our storage items, happens to be directly below the powder room / mud room area. And of course, all the stuff on shelves and clothes in bins are now covered in overflowed (clean?) toilet water. And so begins removing all said items from that area into another (dry) section of the basement; more paper towels. Chloe continued with the Clorox wiping. And, yes, I do trust a 5 year old to completely wipe down items ... she's been watching me do this her entire life and has "helped" since she was about 18 months old.

A friend told me I should relax by taking a bath. I laughed and said, "no, because then I would have to scrub the bathtub!"