Man Flu and a Sense of Humour Bypass

It has been an awful week with illness in this house! I started with a sore throat last weekend but didn’t think anything of it, by the time Tuesday came round I felt absolutely rotten. I had an awful head cold but I was also aching all over and was feeling really hot so it was typical that the night of me feeling really poorly was a bad night as a whole in the house. J decided he didn’t want to settle at all, no matter how much I tried, not even rocking or cuddling settled him. At nine o’clock E woke up crying, I went into her and she had really bad ear ache, talk about feel useless, calpol was given and then I tried to distract the pain by giving her Jaffa cakes and lemonade, an unorthodox way of treating ear ache but it seemed to work for a while..

Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep that night, a maximum of three hours – not fun! I kept E off school the next day and she seemed fine. M came home to help out that night and E was poorly again but this time she was sick a couple of times, once all over M. That night he grumpily mentioned that he had a sore throat, I was waiting for the inevitable .. Man Flu!

By the time Friday came round E was all better and back to school and I had almost recovered from feeling really poorly.

Friday afternoon M came home from work and as I predicted man flu had taken hold, it was like some apocalyptic disaster had occurred.

As mum’s we are quick to learn that there are no sick days in parenting.  Excuse me, there are no sick days in motherhood.  Gone are the days of laying in bed with your cold medicine in one hand and tissue box in the other while drifting in and out of sleep.

We should be thankful that as women we don’t have to worry about “man-flu” getting us down.  You know that cold/allergies/exhaustion that hits men like a ton of bricks and turns them into big babies.

Lots of bugs and colds occur as the seasons change and now there are two children to contend with i find it a lot tougher when i become poorly. For me this means being extremely tired, solution, paracetamol, lots to drink and fresh fruit.  For my husband it manifests itself as the man-flu!  The solution?  Hours of bedrest, complaining, whimpering, and not doing a damn thing!

As I have witnessed man flu many a time i thought i would list a few of the symptoms of this awful illness!

Symptoms of the Man-Flu {aka the common cold}

• The Exaggerated Cough :: You know the one that starts off pitiful but shakes the house by the end of the day.  Drink some hot tea and shut up.
• Whiney voice, almost like they lose the inability to talk normally.
• Refusal To See a Doctor :: “What could they possibly do for me?  Don’t you know I’m just trying to milk this for as long as I can to get out of chores and stay in bed?”
• Excessive Napping :: When mum get sick, I am expected to perform all normal activities as planned.  When dads get sick, they NEED sleep…and a quiet house to do it in.
• Inability to Care for Children or Household Duties :: “But I’m so sick, and I don’t want you and the kids to catch it.”
• Undetectable Fever  – The Thermometer comes out at regular intervals and is stared at in disbelief that there is no temperature… followed by checking if the thermometer is actually working!
• Belief That Medicine Has No Effect  – I took a paracetamol earlier and it didn’t make me better, this isn’t an excuse not to take another one to try to get better.
• Denial That He’s Feeling Better –  Don’t expect your man to admit that he’s actually starting to feel better {even if you can tell he is} – for fear that you will start demanding his help around the house again.
• Sense of humour bypass -things that are normally found funny or are amusing to others are frowned upon, after all how can he possibly find anything amusing whilst on his death bed.

When I suggest to M to take paracetamol or drink more and he doesn’t then my saying is , “Well then you’ve lost your right to complain!” This is normally followed by him saying I’m not complaining…

This recent case of man flu seems to be the worst bout that I can recall, the grumpiness, sleepiness and the lack of sense of humour are big contenders during this particular occasion. I find myself amused by things that happen that he would also normally laugh about but his sense of humour has packed up and gone away – when this does happen I find myself laughing about it which I think possibly irritates the sick man more!

I am hoping that by next weekend when M comes home from work that the man flu has gone away as I am not sure I can cope with another weekend like the last and I am hoping man flu wont occur in this house for a very long time!