Epidemic! and my scrotum, of course

Another drugged up, pain-fogged day lugging around my 14-pound scrotum. I can almost wrap my hand around the left side. I think this means the swelling has begun to go down, but I won't know until it gets small enough to get my hand around it. I never thought to get out a tape measure and record its circumference. Funny how you miss the common-sense things like measuring the size of your scrotum when you're tearing up from the pain and drugged out of your mind.

I've been laying around in bed, doing a lot of reading. I bought Bill Shatner's latest Star Trek novel about the early years when Jim Kirk and Spock first met. Not his best work, but it fills an interesting gap in the Star Trek timeline. Without giving too much away for those few who might read such a book, Spock and Jim meet in a strip club, go to jail and steal the Enterprise. It also explains how they both managed to end up in Starfleet-to get out of jail. It was a whimsical, tale that also manages to fit in nicely with what we know of their personalities and the next 200-odd years of their lives. At the end of the day, it's a good read and must-read for die hard trekkies, anyway.

I also bought new copies of the Red.Green/Blue Mars series. I was reminded of this while recommending some good SF books to Blondie and decided to re-read the series. I'm nearly done with Red mars and it's not quite as good as I remember it, but it will suffice.

I also took it upon myself to introduce LP to the SF/Fantasy genre while I'm house-bound. I decided to begin with Ann Mcaffery's Pern series. I figured LP would like the idea of people riding fire-breathing dragons fighting to save the planet from the terrible space-born thread. Seems I picked a winner-she loves the story and is fascinated by the dragons and their telepathic abilities, which affords the reader a view of their personalities. In less than a week we've finished the first novel, only reading it at bed-time. It's vocabulary is more advanced than I thought it would be and requires a lot of explanations and definitions, but LP seems quite enthralled and I am never happier than when she is curled up under my arm, head on my chest as I read her a good story.

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Having been to the hospital more times this week than all of last year, I've been asked numerous times if I received a flu shot this year. Standard answer: Never get a flu shot, or the flu. Well, not unlike 43 other states of the union, the flu has come to Michigan and here-my little corner of the UP. Seems that there has been thought about closing the elementary school with something like 1 in 3 kids out sick. The hospital has initiated quarantine rules, limiting who can visit and also has masks and hand sanitizers handed out at the door.

Today, my son drives up and crashes out sick as a dog. I wake up to find him home sick (haven't seen him all week) and PW on the couch, also sick. Both of them ended up driving to the hospital to get tested for the flu. They didn't even bother testing them. He's obviously got the flu and most likely PW too, has it. Both got prescriptions for Tamiflu. My ex called while they were gone to tell me that my oldest daughter might also have it. This is not good. I'm hobbled, been taking anti-biotics for 2 weeks and maybe just now starting to mend and now I'm surrounded by a rather nasty strain of the flu. I'm supposed to fly back to work in six days. Things are not looking good for me to make it work, healthy. I really don't want to take the flu to my ship, either.

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In other news, there is no other news-all I do is lay around with my balls in a heating pad and take drugs. Boredom...