MLW: A Story of A Sick Kid and Her Rockstar Mom

Considering I'm sick, and I just finished sneezing about a dozen times in succession and my marbles are really knocking around upstairs, it's only right that I share a sick story with you. And how I have the bestest mom ever.

 

About three years ago, I came down with a pretty good case of the flu. I hadn't had the flu in years. In fact, I kept trying to tell my mom that it was just a bad head cold. She nearly had to beat it into me that I did,  in fact, have the flu. This was well after the Avian flu and the well before the Swine flu. So, it was just the flu.

I talked to my mom nearly every day, and each day I only got worse. I coughed so much that I literally lost my voice. I couldn't sleep. Due to the damn coughing. I wound up being out of work for a full week. I actually had to get a doctor's note as I had used up my three days in a row of calling in sick.

 

By the second day of no sleep, I had a literal breakdown. I cried and cried, wanting only sleep. I couldn't, simply because I couldn't stop coughing long enough to actually fall asleep. My cat would curl up on my lap, and I would lay either on the couch or in bed trying so desperately hard to sleep. My mom kept asking if I needed her to come down to Sacramento, and I kept telling her I'd be okay. Truth was, the flu had quite literally knocked me on my ass.

 

Finally, I dragged my ass to the doctor. Although I waited long enough. The morning I went was a Monday, and my fever finally broke. I actually got physically ill just before I went to leave, and waited until I felt better. Once I knew my fever was done for, I went to the doctor for some good stuff. I'm talking Codeine here. Oh yeah. Now that is good stuff. I could hardly speak once I got there, but squeaked out that I couldn't sleep because of all the coughing. He prescribed cough syrup with Codeine in it and I nearly hugged him. Not to mention he gave me a note giving me until Thursday to be off work. Loved that man.

 

I took some once I got home and slept. I actually slept. It never felt so good. The next day my mom said she was coming down. She'd be so worried about me, it was the sickest I'd been since probably grammar school. Her co-workers who knew how sick I was told her to go see me if she felt like she should. I kept trying to tell her I'd be fine, especially since I had the Codeine now. I didn't want her driving 2.5 hours just come sit with me. But that day, she finally insisted. She'd be down the next day.

 

Because I'd been out of commission for pretty much a full week, my house was a freaking disaster area. The Hazmat folks should have been called.  I straightened what little I could, you know, mostly putting all the used Kleenex in the garbage and whatnot. I did manage to clean the cat's litter box, but after walking to the dumpster and back I was done. All energy I had was gone. Mom had told me she'd be down by 9am the next morning. I was looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, I didn't wake up the next morning when she started calling me from Woodland. She wanted to make sure I was up so I could open up the side gate to my complex. I never heard my phones ring. What did wake me up was nothing short of a heart attack. That cat heard the deadbolt unlock and jumped from the bed. As she jumped, I heard the door open. I sat up and saw my mom's reflection in the glass of a photo frame in my hallway. I hollered in my squeaky voice, "Mom?!" She said, "Yeah, honey, it's me." I simply plopped back down, just relieved to know it wasn't a burglar. She came to my bedside and put her hand on my forehead as only mother's do, and greeted her sick baby.

 

I got up a few minutes later, and I was instructed to not leave my couch all day. Well, I did once, but I had to show her where the laundry room was and put money on my laundry card. Otherwise, I followed her instructions. My mother did 5 loads of laundry, took out my trash, cleaned my apartment, and even ran to the store to get some basic supplies. She fixed me lunch and dinner before she headed out later in the evening. I know it made her feel better coming to help me, especially since I did need the help. I just hated having to admit it. Like I said, I hadn't been that sick in a very, very long time. And especially not since moving out.

 

My mother so totally rocks. She drove a total of 5 hours to take care of me. She knew how sick I'd been and how much help I needed.  She did so much work, and even though I finally felt human again, and offered to help, threatened to tie my ass down on my couch. And I know she'd do it again if needed. Why? Because my mom rocks.