Operation "Begone, Flu!" Underway

I should have known this week was going to get off to a bad start when the weatherman began ominously predicting "dangerous, icy weather" ahead on Monday night. If we were still living in the Midwest or on the East coast, this wouldn't have fazed me one bit. I can drive in snowstorms, ice storms, torrential downpours, you name it. Spending 22 years of my life in Wisconsin was good for something.  However, I keep forgetting that I no longer live in Wisconsin. Or Boston, for that matter. I live in Shreveport, LA where people act as though they're performing a quadruple bypass on a patient rather than making a simple right-hand turn. And that's during good weather conditions, when it's bright and sunny and 80 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Now add bad weather to the mix. Instant disaster. You would seriously think it was Judgement Day from all of the (75 total-this is not an exaggeration) multiple accidents on the road. First of all, people, the weather really wasn't THAT bad. Yes, the temperature dropped below the 30's on Monday night, and with the on-again, off-again rain created icy windshields and *moderately* slippery roads. However, it slowly began to warm up as Tuesday morning went on, and while it was still raining, the roads were no longer icy. I was convinced I would see an accident or two, because there's always that one dingleberry person in a hurry who speeds through a red light, loses control of their vehicle and crashes in to the person in front of them. However, nothing could have prepared me for the road conditions I was about to experience on Tuesday morning.

I was already slightly out of breath and stressed as Will and I hustled Tony out to the car at 9:25 that morning. Will had to be at class at 9:30, and Tony was starting his first day of "big boy school" (which is actually Toddler Play and Speech Therapy) across town. We dropped Will off at school with minutes to spare, then Tony and I headed out. I wasn't too worried, because his class didn't start until 10:00 and I knew where I was going. Unfortunately, as soon as I made my first turn I saw a cop blocking the road. Okay, no problem. I took the next exit, drove down a few blocks, and hopped on the next road that would take me to the highway. I drive for about 10 seconds before I see why a cop was blocking the road. Multi-car pileup, including a semi truck that was stretched horizontally across the road. Not good. I drive up to the exit for the highway, only to see that the highway was blocked off. Now panic is starting to set in. I quickly pull up the number of the speech center on my phone, give them a courtesy call informing them that Tony will be late, and I try and figure out how the heck I'm going to get over to the LSU Medical Center part of town. I finally find the right street (which, naturally meant driving through the not-so-great part of town), only to find ANOTHER multi-car accident involving a semi stretched across the road. Not to mention, everyone around me is crawling. And I mean crawling down the road, probably going 15mph in a 45mph zone. Look, I get it. It's rainy, the cars were icy that morning, and you want to err on the side of caution. That's fine. But there's a happy medium, folks. DON'T be like the drivers who fly through the streets in less than ideal weather causing an accident. That's a given. But you don't need to drive like Great Aunt Mabel after cataract surgery, either.

I finally get to the speech therapy center, and manage to snap a quick picture of Tony, who was very proud and excited to begin his first day.

He was dressed for the weather, too!

I run Tony in to the center, find his room, apologize profusely to the group of pretty, perfectly made-up 20-somethings who were Tony's speech therapists (meanwhile, I was channeling "mom who looks like she was run over by the FedEx truck in the parking lot"). Tony was thrilled to have a group of pretty girls fawning all over him, so I was able to drop him off without tears or drama of any kind. I then enjoyed a blissful hour of grocery shopping, all by myself. It's the little things, people. 

So. That was our Tuesday. Wednesday, Tony woke up and felt a little warmer than usual. I took his temperature, discovered he was a little over 99 degrees. Hmmm. Nothing to panic about, certainly, but I was pretty sure this was the calm before the storm. Tragically, I was right. He was comfy and snuggly all morning, and he didn't have much of an appetite. I was meeting a friend who worked with me at the bank in Germany for lunch (her husband is stationed here at the Air Force base), and around 11 I decided Tony was acting a little more like his normal self, and we could keep the lunch date. In retrospect, that probably wasn't the best idea. He was quiet throughout lunch, and even though I brought his special blanket in the restaurant with us, he kept shivering and acting kind of fussy. He picked at his lunch, and started falling asleep on the car ride home. I got him home, put him to bed immediately, and waited for Will to come home from class. Tony woke up crying about an hour later. I went up to his room, and he was majorly burning up. Will took his temp, and it was 102. Yikes. We called the doctor, and they told us to bring him in. I wasn't sure what was going on, since all 3 of us got the flu shot, but a 102 degree temperature wasn't something either of us wanted to mess around with. We get to the doctor's office, get seen, and lo and behold, our poor little pumpkin has the flu. Yes, despite receiving the flu shot. Oh, and did I mention how much FUN it was running all over town trying to find the medication he needed? His doctor's office was out. Walgreens, Target, CVS and RiteAid were all out. I finally found it at the Kroger pharmacy, only to discover upon returning home that Tony hates the taste and immediately spits it out. Well, crap. 

Last night was rough, and today is looking slightly worse, not better. We've added vomiting and diarrhea to the mix, and I'm trying not to panic because Tony and I are supposed to fly to Mexico on Sunday to be part of the wedding celebration of our dear friends. Please send get-well prayers our way, because we certainly need them!