anatomy of a cold or two

We used to be SO GOOD at this, you guys! Hand sanitizer everywhere, no face-touching, wash wash wash those hands... and we avoided lots of little sick germies. Sadly, I've been slacking in this department lately as evidenced by the awful summer colds (yes, PLURAL) that we've all been passing around.

The biggest lasting, perceptible physical change in Phil since his diagnosis and subsequent treatments has been his lowered immunity. For someone who never used to catch so much as a sniffle it is disconcerting to have him come down with every nasty bug that the kids bring home. And often he brings it home first. And then he shares. By choosing to lie on my side of the bed. But that's beside the point.

Here's a rough representation of how things have looked here the last few weeks:

Day 1: Ocean wakes up with green junk in his eyes. He begins coughing and complaining of an ear ache.
Day 3: Iris wakes up with green junk in her eyes. Both kids get diagnosed with pink eye and Ocean has an ear infection.
Day 6: Phil starts coughing.
Day 7: Ocean complains of ear pain in the other ear. Yup, another ear infection.
Day 8: Phil wakes up with bloodshot eyes and, you guessed it, green junk. Still coughing. A lot.
Day 9: Ruby has green snot and a cough. (Note my fatal mistake... I thought this was the same coughing bug from Day 6 but OH HO HO NO it wasn't. This was bug #2.)
Day 10: Cassie starts coughing. (Bug #1)
Days 11-14: MISERY.
Day 15: Ocean starts coughing. What the..... didn't he start all of this?!
Day 16: Cassie starts with the runny nose and sore throat. (Bug #2)
Day 17: Iris starts with the runny nose and cough. (Is it #1 or #2?! 1 OR 2?!?!?! There's no way to know!!)
And here we are on Day 18. In bed, watching movies, drinking lots of fluids and praying that #1 AND #2 quickly and quietly make their way to the nearest exit.

I guess this is probably normal for households with kids, and there's no way to know if things would be different had Phil's immune system not taken a thrashing but I guess I notice it more because I'm not used to Phil coming down with the crud. I suppose it's time to start being more proactive in our preventative measures again, especially with Phil back on chemo.

I wish you all a healthy, germ-free weekend!