Catching up with the House Of Illness

OK, here’s the short version: I stayed out the week in Boston, despite wishing I could have gone to North Bay. It was the Australians and Israelis (not to mention Californians, and a couple of ex-Southern Midwesterners) that had come to Boston to meet with me that decided things.

I did send the piece I posted below to the memorial, where it was read as part of the eulogy. Apparently it was very well received. (We also sent flowers, which felt weird considering how Gerry would have reacted to that, but it’s not about him at this point.)

The plan was to finish the week, drive home, and then head out to North Bay early this week for a “after the rush” visit. That was before the House of Sickness and the latest attack of the Monster Snow.

Let’s review: I was feeling like crap , and then thought I was feeling better. Sarah had conjunctivitis, but it was cleared up before I left.

Then I got conjunctivitis on the drive to Boston. Trish got my cold–note that this is the second time I’ve left her for a work trip and left her sick with my cold. Her case was pretty short, though, well over by Wednesday.

The drops cleared my conjunctivitis up by Tuesday, but the sickness seemed to come back during the week while I was in Boston. At first I thought this was just the INSANE dryness in the hotel–which kept me waking up every couple of hours with extreme pain in my throat, etc. (I did try all the usual tricks–using the shower’s steam, hanging up wet towels, etc. I actually hung a completely soaked towel up, and it was BONE DRY in around 4 hours.)

Anyway, while the week went very well from a work perspective, and while it was great to see my brother, I basically didn’t get any decent sleep all week. This, in turn, probably is the reason why the cold I thought was beat kicked back in by Friday. For a bonus, I also had a return of a slight case of conjuctivitis.

So, I got home Friday and by Saturday morning, I was actually FULL ON SICK again. Trish somehow picked up the conjunctivitis, and has it worse than either Sarah or I ever had it–she’s a two-eyed pus machine.

Sarah, of course, is fine.

So, I’m back to being sick, Trish is in the sorriest state I’ve ever seen, and now it’s apparently going to be another one of those 18 inch overnight snows. Which, if it actually comes, will mean we all stay home tomorrow. Oh well, I hope we at least keep power.