Swine Flu Redux and One Woman's (that would be me) Crusade to Vanquish Illness

So the 21 year old started feeling ill last Friday with a sore throat and general feeling of malaise. By Saturday morning he was weak and tired. He lives down at the beach, but quickly sought refuge here at the ol' homestead.

This is what I did: I immediately started feeding him Roman egg soup, which is a gelatinous chicken broth cooked with much garlic, some spinach, an egg beat up into the boiling broth, some orzo and a generous topping of grated Italian cheese (I use loccatelli romano, from sheep's milk).

Along with good wholesome food and pure water, I had him drink numerous cups of herbal tea, including a blend specifically concocted for throat ailments. He slept a lot, and basically hung out with the family.

The only medicine he got was some pseudofed, and some Robitussin with codeine.

I was really concerned about him going into pneumonia like the 16 year old did, but by yesterday he was much improved. He is home now, with my cellphone(!), and I will call him this morning to make sure he isn't relapsing or spiking a fever.

I am going to start feeding everyone cod liver oil capsules today, but please don't tell them that is what they are taking. I am not showing them the bottle, just calling it winter tonic!

Along with the above measures, I always wash towels, linens, underwear, cleaning cloths and anything else that can tolerate it in very hot water, sometimes with bleach, and dry everything in a hot dryer. Call me extravagant, but since I am very frugal in other aspects of my life, I feel I can splurge with hot water.

I also try to air out the house, reveling in the fact that fresh air and sunshine are free. The lack of Vitamin D has been discovered to push people into illness, and guess what, when sunshine hits your skin it makes vitamin D, FOR FREE, and only in amounts your body needs so yeah, we can all benefit from going outdoors for a few minutes a day.

The flu vaccines are controversial, and just not too available, so for now, I am doing what I can for myself and my family. I cannot stress enough the importance of not getting over-tired and otherwise run-down, so of course I have been nagging about people getting good amounts of quality sleep. Quality sleep, it has been proven in experiments, is when you get in bed early in a very dark room and stay there for at least seven hours. Depending upon one's own particular needs, the healthy range for sleep time is seven to nine and a half hours. And Ben Franklin was right about the early to bed, early to rise thing.

I post this in the hopes that everyone will stay healthy and enjoy the most fantastical time of year, the holiday season!