when does the 24-hour flu = a break?

I'll tell ya when! Yesterday I had a flu bug, much like the one M came home with last week. Flashback to Thursday: M looked awful and pitiful as he stumbled off his bike and into the house. Abby took Noah for a stroller ride so I could tend Matty and get him as comfortable as possible. We were glad to have "phenigren" (sp?), an anti-nausea medication, in the house. It helped him a ton, and ibuprofen, a hot rice pack and rest also helped. He recovered well and I am happy to say that despite that bout with the flu and a hard drive failure on his computer, he did finish his job market paper. Now he just has one more round of tidying up to do on that and he is ready to put job application packets together!

I was feeling very pleased with myself for holding down the fort with the kids, until yesterday morning when I woke up feeling very nauseated and dizzy. I managed to survive an 8:00 Noah drop off at his day care, an 8:15 appt. with the dermatologist (my first routine check up for little moles, etc. I figured I'm getting old enough to have a baseline check of that sort of thing), 11:00 office hours for my students, a TWO HOUR class period I taught on early modern poetry, and a 2:00 pick up of Noah. I almost didn't make it home. Matthew came home right away and took Noah for me. And here is where the flu gave me a break. I rested for the rest of the day. Matthew even got my favorite thai chicken soup (tom ka gai) for dinner. After sleeping through the night (I think) and resting during Noah's nap today, I think I'm on the mend. I still feel cruddy and super tired, but I can tell I'm better than I was yesterday. Phew. It' not the ideal way to get a break, but I am sure glad that Matty was able to take good care of me. How in the world people take care of kids without help when they are sick is beyond me.