Ugh, I Feel AWFUL!

i agree with those that say to stay away from others.
have the open house some place else. as anyone who enters your home will most likely get what you have. please do not have people come to your house while you are ill and contageous...
we battle illness every christmas to the point that i am ready to skip it. we attend one party, and come home with sickness... and then it only snowballs from there.. fevers vomiting.. you name it we have seen it. and its usually ONE family that brings a sick and drugged kid to that party... i hate it.

DO NOT SUCK IT UP. hav it elsewhere and not go or cancel the open house altogether

Go to the doctor, then hire a cleaning service and take a nap.

I totally understand that you are wanting to move forward with plans to make this send-off special for your son. Unfortunately, it sounds like you are contagious so I would cancel. It doesn't seem fair to guests to have them exposed to your illness.

meh. that sucks.
my dear, hosting a bunch of guests while you're clearly harboring bugs just won't fly. go get the meds you need, hire someone to clean the house, and inform your husband that he's manning the Host the Open House position solo.
say goodbye to your boy at home. do not take your bugs to the airport.
sometimes a partner has to step in and bear the burden. this is one of those times.
hope you feel better soon.
khairete
S.

I find that nothing works for stuffy nose and sinus pressure like real Sudafed (pseudoephedrine), the kind you have to get behind the pharmacy counter and show an ID for. That isn't an ingredient in DayQuil/NyQuil. Also lots of echinachea and vitamin C. My mom swears by garlic tablets and oil of oregano as well. Echinachea and oil of oregano are commonly used together to fight upper respiratory infections and can help clear things up quickly.

Also...lots of sleep. If you can, hire someone or recruit some family/friends to help clean up the house, pick up food and drinks, etc.

Do you have a sinus infection? Can you take an hour to go to an Urgent Care? If by any chance you need a prescription you might as well have them start you on that stuff today.

See your doctor or go to urgent care today for proper treatment of your infection. I know this is not what you want to hear, but if you have a fever and sore throat, you should not be hosting. If you have some form of infection, you really don't want to spread it to others.

Either hire a cleaner and someone else to cater the appetizers and drinks (or have husband do it, if he's wiling and able to) or host at a restaurant. I don't see any other way.

I would not host if i were sick. I'd feel terrible if I were the cause of others getting sick.
Rest as much as you can and delegate or hire others to handle this for you.

Hope you'll feel better soon so you can enjoy the last few days with your son!

Wow - what timing!!

Airborne doesn't work - they've had to alter their commercials because they made false claims and got in so much legal trouble. There are other forms of immune system support but you have to do them for a while before the body strengthens itself. I work in this field, and even I wouldn't tell you there's any quick fix like this in a short period of time.

Do you have a Chinese or Thai restaurant nearby? Hot & sour soup works great for the congestion. When I used to get sick (every cold because a sinus problem plus bronchitis), that's what I did especially if I had to sing. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Really. No dairy (increases secretions/mucus). You already know about fluids. Keep doing whatever makes you comfortable (yeah, not much, I know, right?) and GO TO BED!!

Delegate, delegate, delegate! Husband's family, neighbors, friends can come clean and prep. Just put out an SOS to call up your own troops for this objective! Don't be embarrassed - a friend of mine (single mom, ex doesn't pay on time, she has major depression) did this and just said, "I'm embarrassed but my house is out of control and I really need help" - and a bunch of us showed up and took on different rooms and just got it done! It was great and we were so glad she asked!

Scale back your expectations. Focus on what's important, which is not how many appetizers you have or which bowls the pretzels go in. Let your friends form a little platoon and get it done! When you feel better, you can be profuse in your thank you notes, but not now. You've raised 2 kids who are about to go serve our country - that's plenty!

Isn't this what spouses are for? I would hope your husband is shooing you to bed and taking charge of everything, especially hosting HIS family.
Of course my spouse would have just told me to cancel the whole thing and that's why I'm no longer married...

Fever means you are contagious. Every single thing you touch will have your germs on it. Your son is going to get this. You see that right? Every person that walks in your house is exposed to what you have.

Drugs do NOT make you less contagious. They mask your symptoms but you still have the virus or whatever is making you sick.

If I knew you were running a fever and that your house is covered with what is making you sick I'd want to know and I'd hope you stop touching things. Spray everything down with Lysol spray, let it air dry while you leave the room and go to bed.

Tell your family to watch themselves because you've exposed them to this too. They don't need to be spreading even more. If they can, because they're not running a fever, continue cleaning the house and stuff.

If it were me I'd probably switch the location and if I went I'd be sure to let everyone know to keep their distance from me.

I don't have time for people who mask their illness so they can go do whatever they want.

My FIL went to a club meeting and someone there had been pretty sick with a stomach virus and was still contagious. They should have stayed home, it wasn't a meeting they couldn't miss.

He came home to my MIL who had just started chemo. He got the stomach virus. He stayed away from her but he'd been around her. I was taking care of her at this point and I wasn't having any contact with my FIL or my husband for that matter. My husband was taking care of his dad. I kept myself away from them.

My FIL ended up in the hospital for a couple of days. My MIL got it anyway. She ended up going by ambulance to the hospital and spent nearly a week. It weakened her so much that she couldn't continue chemo anymore.

She died without being able to fully fight her cancer and she'd been given good odds up to the point where she got exposed to a stomach virus.

So I think people should stay home when they're contagious or might be contagious. People can die from the decision to treat the symptoms and not contain the illness.

ETA Eucalyptus helps a lot too!!

I'm sorry you feel awful.

If you have a fever? I would NOT want to be around you - that means you are contagious.

Go to the doctor and find out if you have some sort of infection. If you are on antibiotics for 24 hours before the open house? You should be fine. Sinus pressure CAN be a sinus infection and that can make people feel REALLY BAD.

I would NOT handle food. Heck - I might even where a mask so that I don't breathe on people. This is an event you really don't want to miss. However, I'd move it to some place else.

Vitamin C. Chew a few and sleep as much as you can.

Chamomile tea. Make a pot full, I use a 12 cup drip coffee maker, and drink it all in one day. It will make you pee and sweat, thus releasing the toxins from your body. The tea and a pot of homemade chicken soup works for me every time .I can knock out a cold or flu in 2-3 days.

I don't know if anyone suggested essential oils, either in a diffuser or in the bottom of your hot shower. I swear, diffusing tea tree oil, lemograss, cypress, and white fir have helped tremendously as we pass around entero viruses and the flu. They don't cure it, but they make breathing easier and it helps us sleep deeper, probably because we can breathe. Just a thought. Congratulations on your children's achievements. Hope you feel better soon!

It sounds like the bug that's going around.
Everyone has either got it, getting it, or getting over from it - and I can't think of anyone that's been spared.
So I wouldn't be concerned to the point of canceling your get together.
Day/Nightquil is fine.
Try:
Humidifier in your room at night.
Take as many hot steamy showers as you can.
Chicken soup/broth - keep your fluids up - actual eating is fine if you feel like it but it's fine if you don't - as long as you keep your fluids up.
Ginger ale - warm or cold.
A neti pot helps me a lot when I have sinus issues.
Let others help you if they offer and try to rest up a bit as much as possible.

Ugh, that is awful!

If I were you, I'd chug some OJ &/or chew on some vitamin C, swallow some garlic pills Steam in a hot shower with some menthol to open up the sinus and then take a shot or 2 of your favorite liquor and handle your business! The alcohol will allow you to focus on other than feeling crappy...you're not trying to get intoxicated, just enough for it to do it's thing, back in the day booze was the way, ha!

Kiss that brave boy of yours for us!