The Wife came home on Friday,
feeling unwell. Fever, chills, achy, a
bit of a temp. Luckily, both of the
girls were still at daycare, so we had time to implement Infection Containment
Protocol (ICP, pronounced ‘ick-pea’) ALPHA.
ICP ALPHA is activated whenever a single adult member of the family is
exhibiting symptoms indicating exposure to an infectious, possible airborne
pathogen. Under ICP ALPHA, the exposed individual
is physically isolated from the remaining family members in hopes that the
infection can be contained. If the
containment area is breached, we can transition to other ICPs, like BRAVO (one
adult and one child infected). ICP
CHARLIE is when both children are infected.
Each one has a specific set of rules that are designed to contain the
infections while still maintaining a semblance of normalcy/sanity.
When we hit BRAVO or CHARLIE,
all efforts are focused on avoiding ICP OMEGA, where all four of us are
sick. The only thing to do during an ICP
OMEGA event is smear some lamb’s blood on the door and hope for alms from
friends and neighbors until the infection runs its course.
As far as the ICPs go, things looked pretty good on Saturday. I was fine, and neither
Aggie nor The Pirate was exhibiting any symptoms, but The Wife was still pretty
bad. At about 1:00 that afternoon, she finally
called an urgent care doc to get an appointment. The girls and I stayed home and waited. The Pirate took a nap, and Aggie sat on the
sofa with me to watch some TV. About 5
minutes after The Wife left, I felt something really warm on my arm, almost
hot. I looked down to see Aggies’ head
resting on my forearm. Uh-oh.
I grabbed the
thermometer. She’s 100.7.
Me: “Do you feel OK?”
Aggie: “No.”
Me: “Come with me and don’t
touch anything. We’re activating ICP
BRAVO.”
I texted The Wife, and
informed her of the situation. Aggie was
isolated, placed in our bed, and given ibuprofen. The Wife informed me that the doctor
confirmed a diagnosis of Strep, complete with a fever of 104. The Pirate and I were keeping our distance as
best we could, with baby gates serving to keep babies in and 5 year olds
out.
No sooner had The Wife arrived
home than she was back in the car with Aggie to go back to the exact same
doctor for the exact same diagnosis. I
would have taken Aggie, but that would have broken protocol, allowing an uninfected individual come into close contact with an infected one. That would have guaranteed an ICP OMEGA lockdown. The next 24-36 hours were going to be fun. I thought every tickle in my throat was a symptom. Every ache, no matter how small, was the onset.
As with most things, prior
planning is everything. With ICP BRAVO
strictly enforced, we made it through the contagion period without The Pirate
or me getting sick. Aggie was a bit
disappointed (we were supposed to visit Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday), but
understood. All is
(more or less) back to the way it should be.
Which is nice.
