Friends with THE FLU

[RosieRoo]

So, today I was delivering my sister's girl scout cookies with her, and it was all hunky-dory good and fabulous until we got to our neighbor Holly's house. We sat down to talk to her for a little bit, we were probably in there for 15 minutes, and she says right before we leave that she's so tired because she spent the last 12 hours taking care of her best friend Sarah who had the stomach flu, and it was pouring out of both ends until 5am when they both finally fell asleep. We saw Sarah's car leave at about 11 this morning. I got home to our house, washed my hands and got right on here. can I get the bug from being in the sick zone for 15 minutes? All I did was sit at her kitchen table, use the door handles to go in and come out, and exchange some money for paying for the cookies, and of course, breathing in the air at her house. I had just got past the thought of the sick person at the Sporting Goods Store yesterday, and now this? Seems to me these fears and threats come in multiples!

update: My Mom sucks..... she just got off the phone with Holly who was babysitting the extremely sick Sarah. Mom comes into the TV room where I'm sitting and said "well, Sarah's been throwing up and shitting all over Holly's house, you were just there, boy I hope you don't catch it, that'd be hilarious, I can't believe she was so sick, that's so funny!"
Like, are you KIDDING me? My Mom is such a spiteful b*tch sometimes!!

[Valen]

That language is terrible. Wasn't very nice of your mom to joke about that..or be serious about it.. She should be more sensitive considering ur fears. But, no..i dnt think it would get to you..u were barely there that long & then washed ur hands when u got home. And Holly probably did lots of cleaning- im sure she dont want the germs sitting in her house.

[RosieRoo]

Yeah it wasn't nice of my mom at all.... She really sucks about that stuff. Holly could care less about germs, she's not sick yet so that might be a good sign. I hope its all okay and I'm probably in the clear. Thanks

[awhite35]

As long as you washed your hands when you got home, and didn't touch your mouth or face at all before you washed your hands, I'm sure you're fine. Even then, I think you'd be fine. I doubt there would be v* and d* particles in the kitchen.

[RosieRoo]

okie dokie awhite I probably am fine but it still gets me all skeevy and scared because well, hell, there was a monster case of the stomach bug at our neighbor's house, and my family is ALWAYS with them. I talked my Dad out of going over there to watch football today, after I told him that Sarah was all over their house with V and D, he said there was no way hell he was going to hang out there. Their son came over about a half hour ago asking if we had any toilet paper because the sicky used it all with her ferocious D.... ICK!

[awhite35]

I totally understand why you'd be freaked out and it's good your dad is not going over there. That's definitely not something anyone would want to catch. Just keep good hygiene and you'll be totally fine remember you can't get it just by being around someone that is sick. You would have to physically ingest the particles, which is impossible if you don't touch your face and wash your hands before eating

[RosieRoo]

awhite, thanks Dad stayed here, even though he got multiple invitations to go watch football, mostly because he was just too tired, he spent most of the afternoon napping LOL. My Mom and sister went over this afternoon to see how things were, my Mom and Holly are sewn together at the hip most days, and they wouldn't listen to me asking them not to go over to where there were people sick all night. They were there a good hour, doing I don't know what, and I know they did NOT wash their hands when they came back even though they asked, so I can only hope that my Mom and sister have immunity enough to not pick up what Sarah was spewing all over the house and bring it back to our family here. I hate to be rude, but if their carelessness gets them sick, it'll get their germs all over the house and it will make the rest of us sick just because they didn't wash... UGH.

[AoD]

Well, I don't think you're being rude at all about asking them to wash their hands. It's not asking for much and it's no worse than asking people to remove their shoes so they don't track mud into the house. It's just common sense to wash hands after you were at a home where there were sick people. Just like my parents wash their hands when they come back from work at the hospital. I think it's a bit selfish too, such a small thing they have to do to avoid tracking disease into your home, it's not like you were asking for crazy emet germophobe cleaning measure, this is the kind of thing normal people are expected to do. Not everyone can be so cavalier about being sick (it could have been another illness like the flu and it still would be selfish to expose others to contagion). I really, really hope for you that they avoid catching it! Even if they do, you might still be able to avoid catching it if you are very careful. This is an altogether bad situation for everyone, they'll be feeling like crap if they catch it and they'll be exposing you to one thing they know you fear. Good luck, and keep us posted on how it goes.

[RosieRoo]

Exactly AoD. I try my best not to be too demanding when it comes to my germ-freakiness. I'd like it if hands were washed a little more often than they are right now, I'd like my Mom and Dad to be more diligent when it comes to putting leftovers away in a timely fashion, and to use foods within their expiration dates and tossing them afterward. And when somebody does ever throw up in the house, could they please clean the bathroom? That's all I ask and they seem not to do anything I say.... oh well....

[AoD]

Well, at least you can tell yourself that eventually you will have your own place with your own rules about handwashing. : / For now the best you can do is be proactive and clean shared surfaces often and hope for the best. It really sucks though not to be able to feel "safe" at home.

[RosieRoo]

Home was my safety bubble until friends started getting sick and my family aren't really hygienically concerned about anything. I'm the odd duck out that wants to "waste food" by throwing out after it expires and I'm "so OCD" because I wash my hands when I come home from being somewhere.... to me it's common sense, to them its nuts I guess.