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Sick
By juliezavala in My Turn
February 14, 2011

I was sick last Friday and I ended up working from home so I wouldn't be spreading my germs around the office. I stayed holed up in my bedroom doing an illustration for the upcoming Golden Crescent magazine cover. Laura, Dad's companion from Senior Helpers took him out to get coffee and lunch and sat with him until 3 pm. Laura is a great person, fun and cheerful, and my dad likes her a lot--heck, we all do.

After Laura left for the day I washed my hands thoroughly and then ventured out into the living room armed with Lysol disinfectant spray. I sprayed everything I touched and even wiped down the countertops with Clorox wipes. The last thing daddy needed was to catch my nasty chest cold. Dad was a little puzzled that I was so stand-offish. I kept reminding him that I was sick and I was going to stay as far away from him as I could. Robert came home a little later and took over caring for Dad. I crawled into bed and took a nice long nap.

I felt a little better on Saturday but I took it easy all day and slept a lot. Today I'm feeling about 85% better and I'm going to go to work in the morning. The cough that I had Friday and Saturday is almost non-existant. Whatever the bug was that got me, it hit hard and then tapered off. Probably thanks to all the rest I got this weekend.

Now for a good resource on Alzheimer's disease (lest I forget); I know I mentioned it in a comment to someone in one of my blogs that there's a website at www.alzheimersreadingroom.com that is a great source of information about Alzheimer's. I've visited that site many times since Dad came to live with us and I've gotten a lot of good advice on caregiving from the site as well. The editor, Bob DeMarco, has a mother with Alzheimer's who he cares for. He writes an ongoing blog about her and his experiences dealing with her disease. His mom's name is Dottie and his devotion to her is pretty inspiring. She's 94 years old. I hope you'll check it out if you get the chance.

Well, time to go check on Dad. He slept a long time today. I saw a light under his door early this morning so I know he must have gotten up in the night and couldn't go back to sleep.

I hope you all get plenty of rest and don't let the cold bug get you!