last Wednesday, Mrs Piper called and asked me to take her home from work early. She was developing a bad cold.
She stayed home Thursday, but was heavily congested - “like an elephant was sitting on her chest” she said.
So, off to the docs on Friday. it’s flu. yes, we got the flu shots, but on Tuesday - she would have already been infected and not yet showing symptoms. So Tamiflu and antibiotics.
Saturday, and the PiperCub is wheezing, coughing, lethargic, and generally miserable, wth a bright red rash on his cheeks. Mrs Piper and I start worrying that he’s picked up her flu. And I’m not feeling that good myself…
Back to the doc, who looks a bit surprised to see me again so soon. He takes one look at PiperCub and says “slapped cheek disease.” Before I start worrying about him calling Social Services, he explains that it’s parvovirus b19, and the bright red cheeks are a giveaway. Other than the funny name, it’s about on par with a bad cold. So PiperCub doesn’t have the flu! yay!
Then I ask the doc to look at me. He does the usual checks of ear, nose, throat and listens to my lungs. Verdict: “You’ve just got a cold.” Implicit message: “suck it up, you wuss.”
So a miserable Grey Cup weekend, made even worse by the unimaginable outcome of the game, with the Piper household all under the weather. Fortunately, by Monday PiperCub was feeling better, and could go to day-care, since the doc explained that by the time symptoms of B-19 show up, the patient is no longer infectious. That allows Mrs Piper and Piper to spend Monday and Tuesday sleeping.
Better today, but for “just a cold” it really knocked me out.
So, that’s my whining for this week.
