Nose for News by Sarah Stultz

 

I must have needed an extra reason to deep-clean my house, because that’s exactly what I got this weekend as our home officially became a victim of cold and flu season.

My son woke up with a bad cough on Saturday and a little bit of a fever, and I knew right then and there it was going to be a rough couple of days.

He seemed to respond to the cough medicine and Tylenol well on Saturday that I almost thought he would be on the mend quickly.

However, he woke up in the middle of the night Saturday, and the tide had changed. He cried as he coughed — it must have hurt his poor throat — and he was like a little heater he was so warm.

I took him into urgent care at our hospital in Albert Lea, thinking it might be strep throat because it seemed so painful for him when he coughed, but found out that despite having a little bit of redness on his throat, the strep test came back clear. That essentially meant it was a viral infection, and we were sent home for him to rest and essentially wait it out.

His fever went down periodically throughout the day on Sunday as he would get fever-reducing medicine, but then it would quickly return. The fever and sickness must not have been good for my son’s epilepsy either, as several seizures reared their ugly heads throughout the day.

It was a long day, to say the least.

He had improved a little by the end of the day Sunday — he was at least up and out of bed for a few minutes — but not enough to be able to go to school Monday. He had a fever when I took his temperature before leaving for work, so he got to stay home from school for a day with my husband.

I’m hoping by the time you read this column we’re noticing a little more improvement.

Cold and flu season is one I try to avoid like the plague, and this year it was no different. 

Unfortunately, it spreads like rapid-fire, and he must have caught it from somewhere — my guess is from school, though it could have come from anywhere.

Now the goal is to get him better without getting it myself. I won’t hold my breath, because that is likely impossible at this point.

In the meantime, I guess you know what I’ll be doing this week when I’m home. It’s time for a good deep-clean — time to wipe down all the surfaces, cleanse the air and research the essential oils a little more than I already have and try to get a handle on this before it continues to spread — though it’s likely too late for that.

Spring cleaning is coming a little earlier in the Stultz household.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Tuesday.