Thursday, May 11, 2006

For better or worse...

Tim feels fine today. Just as well, since he did two of his home ed coursework tests this morning, taught a guitar lesson early this afternoon, did a little computer consultancy later in the afternoon, and then had a singing lesson.

I feel fine too. A little tired, but then I was up at 5am. I haven't done a whole lot today, but don't feel achey or fluish at all any more.

That's also a good thing, since Richard appears to have caught a triple-strength virus. He could barely sleep all night, feeling alternately hot and shivery, with a bad headache and nausea. At five this morning, when I woke, he said perhaps he had a migraine. I gave him some Solpadeine which I find the most effective medication for migraine (an over-the-counter drug containing paracetamol, codeine and caffeine) and it did help. The migraine went, the aches subsided, and he slept for about four hours. He was burning hot too, so the paracetamol relieved his temperature as well.

However it's evidently more than just a migraine, as he hasn't felt at all good all day. He's slept, off and on, and although his temperature seems more normal now he says he feels really rotten, achey, exhausted and hot. Perhaps it's some stress-induced virus, since he rarely has time off unless his body forces him to, like this. He hasn't eaten all day, although he's drunk loads of juice and water, and of course I've stirred powdered Vitamin C into some of them.

It did occur to me, in passing, to wonder what we would do if he got worse and needed to see a doctor. Obviously he wasn't well enough to walk anywhere, and although we have several friends who would willingly drive him somewhere, I don't think he'd have enough strength even to get dressed and get in a car. But as far as I know, doctors don't make house calls here. I suppose I should investigate, since some of them might. But we don't have a GP - and this kind of situation has never arisen before in our household.

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