Has anyone else been sick a lot lately?
No, I’m not joking. It’s a serious question. Because everyone in my house this year has been sick seemingly nonstop.
It started back in January, when I had the worst sinus infection of my life. Not exaggerating. I’ve been prone to bad sinuses and infection since I was a kid, but what I had in July was severe enough for antibiotics.
Then, starting about a week after school began, my son and the neighbor constantly circulated a wide menu of ailments for months. There was never a day where someone outside wasn’t coughing. Never.
First was RSV. We all had it (if you can avoid this one, do so!).
Then we had about a week after we finally got better from RSV that we got COVID, which was actually very short-lived for us and thankfully very mild.
About a week after that, we all had a standard, run-of-the-mill cold.
This brought us into fall, which has always been a bad time of year for me with congestion until first frost and the cold temps persist. I’m only just now finding some releif.
In between these ailments, my son threw up twice, and I developed a cold sore (which I’ve gotten all my life on occassion).
When talking to my neighbors and witnessing it firsthand, I discovered that what we were going through in my house was standard for everyone around us, which isn’t surprising seeing our kids all play together and kids aren’t really kids but walking vectors for all sorts of infectious muck!
It reminds me of a Tweet I once read that went something like this: Never take a cookie from a kid durig the holidays because it’s not a cookie they’re giving you but the flu!
On a night in late October, my neighbors and I were sitting around a fire and at least two people from each household were coughing the night away because we all had the same things.
Normally, I get sick about once every two years, not counting sinus infections because I have sinus problems non-stop. I’m pretty sure the last time I was able to take a breath through my nose without congestion was right after they sucked all the amniotic muck out of my nose and chest after I was born.
When I looked online to see if anyone else besides me and my neighbors were experiencing this run of colds, I discovered it was very wide-spread and being blamed on everything from more contagious virulent strains to lessened antibody leveles due to the mask wearing for the past couple years.
I don’t care what the cause. I just want to say it stinks being under the weather all the time, and I hope everyone keeps healthy this holiday season.
