Why Does It Always Happen This Way?

Half of the time, we have four kids here. But every other week, when Emily is at her mom's house, we have three kids. And every other weekend while Emily is gone, Alex & Britain go to visit their father and we just have Jaxon. 


During the summer, however, things are different. The custody agreement requires Alex and Britain to spend extra time with their father, and so at various times during the summer, we may have just Emily and Jaxon or we may just have Jaxon for the whole week. Last year, we had two one week periods where it was just us and Jaxon. To those of you who never get a break from your kids, going from 4 kids down to 1 probably sounds like a vacation. The only problem is that my body chooses these little breaks to get sick. 


The first time Alex & Britain left in June of last year, I came down with mastitis the next day. All my grand plans of deep cleaning the house went out the window and I spent several days in bed, recovering.  


The second time they left was in July. We decided to take a quick trip to the beach. It was my birthday and that was the best birthday present my husband could have given me! I was so excited! We arrived on Tuesday afternoon, and early on Thursday morning, I woke up with mastitis. Again. I could not believe it. 


So here we are, a year later. The kids left on Sunday evening. On Monday afternoon, I started getting a cold and it has gotten steadily worse. It shouldn't surprise me, but I was hoping to be well this time! I know a cold doesn't sound like much and it's really not. It's just that any form of sickness aggravates my Parkinson's symptoms. What should be a simple cold becomes much more flu like when combined with the fatigue and body aches of Parkinson's. 


The good thing is that since the kids are gone, I have plenty of time to lay around, take naps, drink hot tea, and recover. The sad thing is that every time I know they are going to be gone, I always plan lots of projects and things to keep me busy to distract me from how much I miss them. Since I seem to get sick every time they leave, I never get any of these things accomplished. Oh, well.


What I can't figure out is why my body always chooses these times to get sick...it makes no sense!