Flattened by the 'flu...

Oink, oink!

It appears as though the piggies have descended upon the House of Leprechaun - poor Reds! The H1N1 'flu is sweeping through Eastern Ontario at the moment and has made a most unwelcome stop in our home.

Matthew was fine on Friday morning. By late afternoon his sporadic coughing gave me pause and by bedtime, I KNEW he was getting a cold, at the very least. Matthew's eyes are his giveaway, set as they are against pale, freckled skin. When he's coming down with something, his eyes red-rim quickly.

Matthew came awake around 9 that evening, crying and feverish - 103.7 - pretty stinkin' high for a kid who'd exhibited no "real" symptoms of anything but hyperactivity two hours previous. Save the eye thing, of course.

His fever spiked (104.2) and waned (100.1) all weekend, interspersed with bouts of nausea and vomiting. The cough, mysteriously absent until yesterday, returned with a vengeance and the poor boy has barely eaten in four days.

Luke was mildly feverish on Saturday, but rallied well. I assumed that this bug had passed him by and was so relieved. Alas, Mr. Luke is also fair-skinned and his gorgeous blue peepers give away the sickies, too - and his were off first thing this morning.

By noon they were BOTH coughing, though Matthew more than Luke. Neither had a fever, unless you count the wicked case of cabin fever.

(Insanity-making = two normally-active boys + indoors for four days + the 'flu)

The boys wanted a car ride, so I obliged them and we drove to Daddy's work, as a surprise. Normally, the Reds would have bounded gleefully from the car upon seeing Mark, but not today. Today they sat quietly, dully watching him through the window. Unmoved. Uninterested.

Just plain UN-Red.

So, I took them to an empty park and let them run about in the leaves. The didn't run so much as dutifully follow. All my joyful kicks and crunching in the foliage failed to elicit even one "Whoop!" so I gave up and bundled them into the car for home.

We "played" in leaves out front for about 15 minutes until the Reds were begging to come inside. They picked through dinner and then Luke cried to get down, his meal virtually untouched on his plate, which frankly, worried me a LOT.

By six, both boys were medicated and pj'd and barely hung on through three bedtime stories. When they both slumped onto my lap in tired little heaps, I gave in and upstairs we went.

Both: OUT by 6:30.

Luke has woken up three times now, clutching his head. I had a terrible fever-driven headache on Sunday, so know well his agony. Fought to get a spoonful of Advil down his throat and failed miserably at getting his temperature.

As of this writing, both Matthew and Luke are sleeping fitfully - there's a little bit of crying and a whole lotta coughin' going on.

So for the record? Swine 'flu sucks ASS.


Edited to add: Luke just came up crying and trying to get me to jam MY finger in his nostril and eye sockets, to dull the pain in his head.

Effin' awesome.