'Tis the season.
Not the merry type.
It is that other season that I warned you of here.
It started with a pneumonia and now they are dropping like flies around here.
Apparently, misery loves company.
The misery started with Sadie's pneumonia, shared with Eliza who added to the shared pneumonia her own ear infection. Eva brought her own unique germs to the mix today with a positive test for the flu (despite us all having our flu vaccines this year), Lance is coming down with something and on the way home from the doctor today with Eva I got a call from the school clinic that Bridger was throwing up, and he is now a lethargic, weak bundle of pathetic.
Lovely.
A smorgasbord of germy delights.
For Bridger, vomiting comes with everything from pink eye to pneumonia and everything in between. So what is his underlying illness going to be? The suspense is killing me. Right now he is taking a brief nap - after which whatever combinations of illnesses he has will make themselves manifest with their associated symptoms - including more vomit.
This is the second reason that my Christmas preparations are completed well before December. In December I have to be ready to shut down and step away from "life" at any given moment. Having been in the hospital for Christmas in the past and having many other near misses - I know that my time soon will not be my own. Sometimes hospital stays are actually easier than what is required in home care. Keeping Bridger out of the hospital takes all I have - and even some that I don't. In a matter of hours I will not have the time or ability to grocery shop, so while Bridger now briefly sleeps I am frantically taking inventory of what meals we have that can be thrown together without me present. Starting 1 hour ago, I no longer have the ability to run a single errand because Bridger will require 100% home care and I cannot expose a caregiver to his illness to relieve me. Anything left on my to-do list will soon be in the hazy pile of forgotten because my brain fog will set in as I will most likely not be sleeping tonight or in the nights to come because I will be listening for the retching of vomiting or keeping an eye open for seizures.
All this on top of caring for the "typicals" and their dripping, snotty noses, hacking coughs and blazing fevers. That is really the easy part.
I can do this. I got it down to a science which makes me smile at myself. This is not offered as whining, but just said to offer a glimpse into a piece of the December special life. While it is completely exhausting, I feel a little closer to Heaven in times like this. Christmas isn't about what color of wrapping paper to use or spending mind power scheming what your little elf should be posed to do next. Christmas is about sharing His love through service, and I will have plenty of opportunity to do that for a frail special little package. The lucky part for me -- I can give that service while wearing my pajamas and my hair in a scrunchy.
So excuse me while I end this post. I have only a few minutes of time left before I devote the rest of my week to nurturing the Christmas Spirit - the special way.