All Random...

- We STILL have not heard back from Stephen's flu test yet. Apparently, since doctors are being required to test anyone who has any of the symptoms, the labs are seriously backed up. I want to know if he actually had Swine Flu, but at this point it hardly matters. He and Hannia came over last night, and he seemed pretty much completely well. He still hasn't eaten a whole lot, but said he was feeling fine. I'm so glad. I hate it when my kids are sick.

- Hannia wrote a message about all of this on Twitter, and now...the CDC is one of her followers. Weird! And a little bit scary. But whatever.

- We had a little party/brunch at work today. I brought sausage balls because people requested them. But somebody, and I don't know who, brought chocolate-covered strawberries that were the best things EVER!! The berries were huge, and ripe, and sweet, and that chocolate was amazing. Thank you whoever made those. I want some more please.....:)

- It is hotter than a thousand HELLS here right now. Its supposed to be even hotter tomorrow. Anybody who knows anything about me knows that I hate, loathe and despise hot weather. I think we are going to spend a lot of our weekend hanging out at the pool. What else can you do when its this miserable? We will probably be sneaking in some mojitos in water bottles again. They frown upon alcohol at the pool, but what they don't know won't hurt them.

- We were planning to go up to Danville this weekend (for Father's Day) because Bruce wanted to go try out the new gun club that Dad has joined. Then this whole flu business came up, and we decided it was better to be safe than sorry. I am sure Dad and Barb want NO part of the flu of any kind. The Doc said that we could potentially be contagious up to 5 days after exposure. So....yeah. We hate missing a chance to visit, but we want everyone to be well for our beach trip in a couple of weeks.

- I am so happy that the weekend is finally here that I can't even find the words to express it. Love to all. Have a fabulous weekend. Stay cool, have fun, and stay WELL!

The Flu

Hannia called me at work yesterday morning. She was upset and worried. She said that Stephen was really sick, running a high fever, and was refusing to go to the doctor. Also? She had an important exam at 1:30. And that exam is a whole other story. To try to make a long story short, she graduated 2 years ago. She walked across the stage, got a job and everything. But she is still waiting on her diploma. There was some kind of mix up about the credit she was supposed to earn for studying abroad in France, and apparently ECU has some of the worst office personnel in the world. 2 years, 9 million phone calls, 10 million trips to the registrar's office, a billion cases of noone knowing anything, 59 million people that she needed to talk to NOT being in, and a gazillion frustration headaches later, Hannia was finally able to get them to concede that if she could pass this French exam, she could have her diploma. Of course, she has been out of school for 2 years.....and I don't think she has that much opportunity to practice her French here in G'ville, so naturally she was already anxious about the whole thing.

Anyway, I know my son, and I KNOW he can be stubborn. So, I told Hannia to go on with the exam, and try not to worry....we would intervene and make sure Stephen went to the doctor. I mean, come on, he is having flu symptoms in the midst of all of this Swine Flu hoopla. And people die from that crap. Its not something to play around with. Bruce managed to get off of work first, so he headed over to Stephen's house. He called ahead to the dr. and they told him to come in and get a mask first.
Then, they ushered Stephen directly back into an exam room so he wouldn't be in contact with anyone else in the waiting room. They kept him back there forever. When I got off work about an hour and a half later, and I still hadn't heard anything, I swung by the doctor's office on my way home. I'm sorry....this is my child. I was worried. I didn't care if I risked getting exposed.

So, it's possible that Stephen has Swine Flu. They did blood tests and we hope to have the results by tomorrow. But they really felt like it was most probably some kind of flu, even if it turns out NOT to be the H1N1 strain. They started him on Tamiflu and sent him home to wait it out. The good news is that he is already feeling better with the meds. Apparently, the earlier you can get started on them, the more effective they are. I don't think that getting a positive result of Swine Flu (or negative for that matter) will change anything as far as treatment goes. It seems to be pretty much about the same as any other flu. Its just the one going around at the moment. Flu sucks no matter what strain it is. And there have been confirmed cases here in town....so....? We will see. In the meantime, we are all on high alert to look for symptoms for the rest of us who have been exposed to whatever it is that Stephen has. At the first signs we have been instructed to head to the Doc as soon as possible. Probably for Tamiflu.

So, yeah, its been a weird week. And we are all just waiting for test results. For Stephen AND for Hannia. Hopefully everything will work out fine.

Little Tabby Cat

This is Omen, our little tabby cat. She is such a sweet tempered girl, very affectionate and cuddly. I was reading a piece about the domestic short-haired tabby, and I saw a cute little legend that I have never heard before.

According to this legend, a common little tabby cat climbed into the manger to cuddle up with the newborn baby Jesus and keep him warm. Mary was so grateful that she marked the cat (on its forehead) with her initial "M" so that everyone would know to care for, love and respect the descendants of the little kitten that warmed the baby Jesus. All true tabbies are supposed to bear the mark.

I see Omen every single day, and yet I couldn't remember seeing a large "M" on her forehead...so I had to go check it out. I woke her up from a nap, so she wasn't exactly amused. But its there. On her forehead. The middle of the M is broken, and doesn't quite meet up, but its definitely there. Funny how I never saw it before. Kind of a cute little story though.....