I know my family and I are not the only ones in the community being hit with the Cov-Flu-curse.

From what I have heard, it hasn’t hit the same for any two people.

Symptoms have included, but are not limited to, body aches, headaches, fever, stomach aches, chest pain, sore throat, a cough, nausea and fatigue. It has lasted one week, two weeks, four days, two days, or more or less.

Urgent care and the emergency rooms have been churning patients in and out, test after test. Even our family doctor had to reschedule an appointment because they got sick, too.

Last night, I was talking with Kyle about how during COVID we had weekly statistics to inform everyone – maybe we should bring that back.

In our home, sickness is like a dance. The Ballet de’ Troutman if you will.

Kyle just sleeps. I mean he really sleeps; he could sleep for 3 days straight and wake up feeling great.

I, unfortunately, get the man flu. I complain constantly and need never- ending attention and coddling.

Our oldest takes after me and our youngest after her dad.

Now, the dance starts as soon as the first person in the house gets infected. The rest of us immediately jump into survival mode assessing ourselves to determine any symptoms.

Kyle is usually in denial, and Ellie seems to suffer a new symptom every day.

This most recent ballet started with our oldest daughter. It was a snow day and we had taken the girls to the hill close to our house to go sledding. When we got back home, we cuddled up and watched TV.

By that evening she was throwing up and had a fever. That lasted the weekend, and she missed that next Monday of school.

Once she was better, the baby woke up at 3 a.m. also throwing up. She had a fever and was pretty lethargic. That lasted another 3 days.

Then it was my turn. It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and since our oldest was out of school we decided to go home a few hours early. By the time Kyle got home around 5 p.m., I didn’t feel great. Overnight, it hit me hard — fever, nausea, head and body aches, cough and chest pains. It felt like I was on fire from the inside out.

I was in bed for four days, even missing portions of my delivery route that week. I made it to the couch on Saturday and went back into the office the following Monday. However, I still struggled to eat anything but Jello and broth for another week.

Our oldest put on her rendition of Swan Lake, which consisted of one day having a headache, one day having a cough, one day having a tummy ache, and so on until she had claimed every symptom and maybe even added a few more. I didn’t know that this sickness caused her tongue to turn blue — I thought that was just the Takis.

Last night, Kyle mentioned that he wasn’t feeling great. He had complained of a sore throat all day. By bedtime, he mentioned body and head aches. His temperature was slightly up for his norm, so I jumped into action. I made him take some Tylenol and a luke-warm shower; I put the heating pad on his side of the bed, put an icepack under his pillow and placed throat spry and Vicks on his nightstand; and told him to brace himself because the next 4-5 days were bound to be tough.

To be honest, I didn’t expect him to get out of bed this morning, but he wasn’t feeling as bad as I had expected. That is Kyle’s dance though: denial, more denial – then sleep.

I am no doctor, but these are some of the things that helped us. Sleep, or at least rest as much as you can; sip water, but don’t drink it too fast; eat something, like Jello, broth or soup of some kind; try to keep your distance from other people, as we can’t determine how long the incubation time is with this; and go to the doctor if you need to.

TroutMom says, it’s time to take care of each other. Take soup to your friends, check in on them with a text or a call, listen to your wife’s incessant complaining, and make sure your stubborn husband admits he needs to slow down — because he is, in fact, sick.

Jordan Troutman is the Owner and General Manager of the Cassville Democrat, president of the Ozark Press Association, a wife, a mother of two daughters and a graduate of Capella University with a Bachelor’s in General Psychology. She is pursuing a Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy. She may be reached at jtroutman@cassville-democrat.com.