This Little Piggy Stayed Home

I am a worrier. I think that just comes with the territory when you are the parent of a child with special needs, especially a child with significant medical issues. But nothing has consumed me with worry as much as the H1N1 virus.

I worry each year about the seasonal flu, and my family was right at the front of the line to get the seasonal flu shot. Even with that, I still make sure my house is stocked with flu survival supplies – tissues, ibuprofen, Gatorade, and enough nebulizer and tube feeding supplies to last a couple of weeks.

I instruct my children on the proper coughing, sneezing and handwashing techniques, and in fact, started that early this year with the onset of H1N1. But I have taken those steps to new levels this year – some might even say obsessive levels.

No one, and that means absolutely no one, comes into my house without using the hand sanitizer on the porch table next to the front door. At least once each day I wipe down all the door knobs and light switches with a Clorox disinfecting wipe. And I’m embarrassed to tell you how much Lysol spray I go through each week.

We are practicing social distancing. In fact, I often feel like I am keeping everyone in a bubble because we just don’t go anywhere anymore. And if we do happen to be out somewhere, if I hear one person cough or sneeze, we will turn and walk in the opposite direction.

I know I am not being completely rational. My children do go to school – one to university, and the others to high school. We’re talking at least two different germ pools right there. I must go to the grocery store, the pharmacy and the gas station. And, I have to work with many people, each of whom carry their own germ pool germs.

But I can’t stop myself from obsessing. Perhaps it’s the media – perhaps it’s that I have seen my youngest daughter sick from the seasonal flu – perhaps it’s the stories of children and young adults dying each week – but whatever it is, I’m consumed with worry.

Am I alone in this? Do you have other ways that you are coping with the fear of H1N1?

Deborah can be found writing here at 5MFSN every Wednesday, and can also be found at Pipecleaner Dreams.