Hi. It's me.

Writing from "the other side" of Emily's flu.

I kid you not, we must have gone through over 7 boxes of tissues in less than a week.

The month started off with Emily having one of her insomnia stretches ---- not falling asleep until 11 or so.....(and please, don't ask, yes, we have tried EVERYTHING to get that kid to unwind and just drift off to sleep).

So, when she was acting lethargic I assumed she just needed some good old fashioned sleep.

Then the fever kicked in. Followed by aches and chills. And then for about 12 hours she seemed completely fine. Then her nose nearly dropped off her face with the weight of stuffiness. The drainage --- oh, the drainage. The coughing. Did I mention the nights? It never failed that JUST as I was closing my eyes about to fall into a deep sleep..........the moaning would start.

Something like this, *cough, moan, cough, moan, cough, long moan, cough, slight sob".

Silence.

Then * cough, moan, cough sob....*

You get the idea. I'd start thinking she was OK and had fallen back to sleep when the whole cycle would start all over. I'd force myself out of bed, find a clock to work out the dosage of medicines, etc and try to settle her back down.

I think I could easily work for Vick's, Advil, the Humidifier company, Kleenex or Sudafed.

After a solid five days of her laying in bed, we did a visit to the Dr. ---- and the Doc told us EXACTLY what I knew she would. "It's a virus, nothing can be done."

I think there should be a small grocery store next to every Pediatrician's office --- it would be so nice to pop in and grab a few items with your sick kid in tow ----- find some lunch for yourself and then head back home to your disgusting, germpool home.

I probably just thought of a million dollar idea!