a pox upon us

I’ve been feeling under the weather lately (you know, rather than over it…or something) and this condition has made me reflect on other times I’ve been sick.

First off, though, I wanted to point out that I didn’t really get sick during my last semester. The semester I figured I’d be sick the entire time because my body was so ravaged with stress and lack of sleep. I showed this stress in many other ways, but not in being sick. Huh.

Anyhow, when either Cardo or I am sick, the sick one will sleep on the couch, so as not to contaminate the other person. However, when Pic isn’t feeling well, we all tend to gather in the living room. On the nights when she just can’t sleep for coughing or throwing up or whatever other unpleasantness, we will all converge on the living room floor and endure the night together.

I don’t know what is normal in other families, and I’m sure the range of ‘normal’ is vast, but I feel that we may be a bit off in this situation.

Oh, also, we only spend nights together in the living room when Pic is feeling so badly that she cannot sleep. On these nights, she’ll stay up pretty much all night watching tv while Cardo and I attempt to sleep. Yes, that’s right, we’re awaiting out Parents of the Year awards any moment now. Really, though, Pic gets so hysterical sometimes that the soothing brain-numbingness of the idiot-box is the only thing that keeps her calm. And, when we’ve already been dealing with a sick child and we’re running on fumes and have to work or continue to care for said sick child the next day, we’ll pretty much go with what works. (And, yes, I understand that we are lucky to have problems so easily solved and to have a tv set at our disposal.)

Anyhow, what about the rest of you? Do you prefer solitude when you’re sick or would you rather have someone nearby?