two steps ahead?

Do you ever feel that you're just one or two steps away from a turn for the worse?  Or the threat of one?  That's rather the way I feel at the moment.

For a week now, I've been doing battle.  Taking temperatures, doing laundry, defrosting chicken broth, making soup.  Refilling cups, picking up the slack, applying cool washcloths.   Doing my best to keep the kids away from germs.  You know the drill.

And for the most part, I've been spared.  I felt a little worn down on Friday afternoon - my own temperature was slightly up.  I fled to the couch to rest as much as I could, and by bedtime I'd decided that I was just catching a cold.  I ended up with a two-day cold and a little cough; all in all I think I did pretty well...considering the circumstances.

Because I've avoided the high fevers.  I've avoided the dizziness, weakness and lethargy.  And I've avoided the...how shall I put it delicately...the gastrointestinal distress.

So far.

I can't help but wonder; will it catch up to me?  Will I succumb in the end?  Or will the probiotic-rich foods, the broth, the extra doses of fermented cod liver oil (FCLO)  - dare I even say the skin brushing? - protect me?

All these things, I have bulked up on.  For several weeks now I've been serious about eating fermented foods at every meal, taken more FCLO than usual.  I've faced the battle I knew was coming (flu season!) as well as I knew how.  So now the question remains:  will it be enough?

Because I have been in the thick of it.  I've kissed feverish foreheads, ferried germ-laden cups to and fro, snuggled the sniffly, and had children cough into my very face.  I have been exposed, no doubt about it.

We'll see.

On a side note, I had the wonderful opportunity to learn more about essential oils not long ago (remember that I'd been wanting to do that?), and I should be receiving some very soon.  I'm very excited about the possibilities, and I wish - oh, how I wish - I had had them in my hands a week or two prior to this.  I believe they could have done us a world of benefit.  Cough?  Cold?  Flu?  There's an oil for that, apparently.

Still for now, it remains to be seem whether I'm truly fortified to face this wily enemy; or whether I will, in the end, truly succumb.  Here's hoping.

And my children had better hope so too, because if Mama gets sick, a lot of things could come to a screeching halt around here...