November 20, 2016
9:11 p.m.

Oh boy, I think I might live through this one!

Today I got out of bed. I ate some cream of wheat and apple sauce. I had a little coffee.

Today I managed to visit with the kids, feed the little baby, draw with the bigger baby and even got a little writing done.

Yay, me.

So, it's flu season. You go the doctor and get your shot, and then you catch the other strain. And that's if the shot didn't make you sick as well, which always happens to me.

We're close to a week in now. There are presently eight people in my house. It started with the baby. (The bigger baby. The little one doesn't live here.) Next came her older brother.

On Wednesday I had a free two night hotel room offer from the casino, so I took them up on it and went to Blackhawk. Good thing I did. I got sick that night, and so did my daughter-in-law, who was home. We have one bathroom, which would have been impossible, so at least the fates were on our side with that one.

When I wasn't in the hotel bathroom Wednesday night through Friday at check out, I was literally passed out in bed. I dragged myself up in the wee hours of Friday morning to soak in a hot bath, but other than that, I was basically useless.

At some point on Thursday I got dressed and went out for Sprite. I distinctly remember doing that. I had meant to do it all day. I was dehydrated and my stomach hurt, and I really, really wanted 7-Up, but no one ever has that anymore.

I don't know what time I finally made it out, but the sun had gone down.

Now, there had been a plan in place for my brother and dad to come down on Friday. My brother is going to help me with my leaky roof, God bless his heart. But there is no way on God's green earth that I am going to knowingly let anyone walk into my house full of sick people and catch a bug like this one, so I called them and said, "Let's rethink this!"

We're re-thinking it.

Of course, it snowed. And melted. And leaked. Meh!

Anyway, I had also planned to get some writing done while I was there, but nothing too productive came of that plan. I read over some of what did get done--wow, am I going to be editing! I mean, I managed to get a surprising number of words on the page, and there's some workable stuff. But...a little word to the wise: if you can't hold your head up, you probably shouldn't be trying to form a cohesive scene.

Heck, I should just be proud that I made it out of bed in time for check-out Friday morning. I had tea. I had some more Sprite. I took the bus home. And before I went to bed for the rest of the day, I even took the dogs out!

I have a blurred memory of yesterday, once again a-bed, watching bits and pieces of...something. A movie? The Librarian? Maybe. By then everything had changed from stomach to head, nose and chest. Believe me, it's been lovely. I wrote a little here and there, but mostly I tried to fix what I'd managed in my delirium.

Today, out of bed, I sent my stuff from my tablet to my PC and read it through again. Wow.

Like I told my daughter-in-law, my ghostly characters didn't even bother to visit me in my fever dreams. Oddly, though, a new character showed up and started his story, so I don't think it's a loss; it just requires big-time edits.

I have been participating in NaNoWriMo this month just for the kick in the butt to get it done, and it's a good thing I got something done, but gee whiz! I was hoping I'd already hit that 50,000 word target.

Nope! But I am counting every word I put in over the last few days. They cost me. This may be the hardest part of the book to edit, but it fits in the story and I don't want to lose that surprise character. He's pretty cool.

I guess no matter how you plan, you can get a big surprise any time.

My son thought he was going to get by with only the headcold part of this illness, but lo and behold--it got him tonight. Poor guy, we who have gone before him feel his pain.

In the meantime, my granddaughter has so far managed to escape the stomach-centric part of this strain, but not the headache and generally yuckiness. We were hopeful, considering how her uncle was doing, but now I am a little worried. Pray she escapes.

Daughter and son-in-law status: she has sad tummy and a giant pain in the neck--probably from sleeping crooked. He is cruising along like a superstar. Hopefully he will escape entirely.

Other daughter and son-in-law came today with their kids--they must have been crazy! But they said they have all been sick, too, so hopefully we are all over this in time for Thanksgiving. I'm sure we would all like to eat something tastier than Cream of Wheat.

Okay, so--don't catch this! Seriously! It really sucks. Stay well.

Good night!