Sick

At least two of us has been sick in our home for the last two weeks. On Wed we went to the museum because it seemed we were on the mend but I know it set Sadie and I back. Gary woke up yesterday hacking and Jonah is the biggest baddest mucus as we affectionately call him. Sadie has been breaking out in all sorts of rashes and just when it seemed we would start to be able to emerge from our holiday stupor, we are back here in the house walking around in a haze. I went back to a full schedule at work this week and am feeling those repercussions. Last night in the ER the doc actually talked to me about my health even though she was busy taking care of lots of other sick people. It's a never ending sickness. It is a cough that lasts for weeks, settling so deeply in my throat that I begin to recognize it in the morning. The pattern is so similar too. In the morning I wake up and blow my honker for the first four hours which progresses in to the annoying persistent cough and the almost losing my voice but not quite. Finally at night time, just when it seems I may get some relief I have the dry hacking cough which comes only when I am fully almost settling in sleep, dreams so close I can see them emerging.
I wonder about Grampa John. I wonder about what it feels like to be sick for good. I wonder about what it would feel like to feel this way in permanence, no hope for reprieve.
Two nights ago, I heard him wake up in the middle of the night. I had fallen asleep on the couch watching something stupid for sure. I was in and out of my coughing state but working towards sleep. I could hear him coughing. It was the same cough as mine and I knew instantly that we had given it to him. It was the same cough as mine but it was different. It became louder than my persistent hack, it became louder than the beating in my heart. He had turned on the TV and I knew he was watching it and I wanted to escape into TV land with him, where we could emerge with the Beaver, Fonzie and George Jefferson, a lesson learned and laughter had.