snot

disclaimer: if you have a weak stomach and don't like hearing about mucous, then stop now. I warned you. I took plenty of cold medicine today...

...our clan is sick.

About a week ago, all was going well until Julia came home from daycare with a runny nose. We have her in daycare just three hours, two mornings a week...just enought to innoculate her mucous membranes with the latest evil virus. She then promptly waltzes home and sneezes all over her baby sister. Mary's naive immune system lets the virus go hog-wild in her sinuses, and within 24 hours, we have two ornery, congested, snotty girls on our hands.

By then, it's only a matter of time. I usually give myself 72 hours before I too become a snotty mess. I never get sick from work. I wash my hands at least thirty times a day and I'm very careful about taking precautions around patients. When home, however, there's no avoiding it. All it takes is Mommy grabbing a half-eaten chicken nugget off of Julia's plate and popping it down the hatch. As I chew it, I remember that it probably has snot on it. Oh crap.

If I can avoid the Nuggets, I'm still not in the clear. Mary loves to snuggle, and who am I not to want to hold her? Then, she does her next favorite thing: suck on her fingers, and then stuff her whole hand into your unsuspecting mouth. Before you know it, her saliva is your saliva...and the rest is history. LIke I said....like the sands of time....72 hours is what I get before I get to ride out the same viral crap. I have learned to pay attention to the course of the illness as it goes thorugh our kids. Some viruses come on suddenly and your nose gushes like a hose. Then, a day or two later, it's gone as quick as it came...and all is well again. This particular one hit our kids with progressive congestion over a day, then invaded their little lungs with the same snotty goo. They are both coughing snot and spurting snot out of their noses. Mary grinds it into the left shoulder region of all of my clean work clothes. Julia wipes her snot into her left sleeve...and by the end of the day, there's quite a collection of slippery goo on her clothes as you try and slip them off without getting the goo in her hair.

Like I said before, there's no way to avoid it. When your children fall ill, you are next. Maybe next time I should just put the snot on a piece of toast instead of waiting for the inevitable.

Here's to Kleenex, Sudafed, and Hot Tahti's...