UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!

We thought that the little visitor who came to our home was The Flu. See it there on the left? The slight fever, the stomach ache, the lethargy, the sudden rash which sped uncontrollably and covered Z's entire body as soon as the doctors were off duty.

But no, as I found out after THREE HOURS in the emergency room. That, my friends, is not the flu.

I learned this when the Doctor finally walked in, looked in Z's mouth and said, "Yup, that's strep throat. I can smell the strep." THINGS I DIDN'T KNOW BEFORE: You can smell strep throat.

I had smelled a strange, sour smell when Z was sleeping in my arms earlier that morning. When her breath swept out of her mouth and across my face. Over and over. And I didn't want to move because I didn't want to wake her up. Poor kid.

And now I recognize the smell. Why, I smelled it last night when I went to brush my teeth...

Yeah. That's right. I have strep throat, too.

I wish I had all these skills when I lived overseas. If someone on the team were sick, they could walk up to me and I would smell their breath. "It's not strep," I would say, musing. Hmmm. "Let's see the whites of your eyes. Well, it's not malaria." When they said that they suddenly hated the taste of bananas I'd be able to tell them what they were suffering from, because I am the King of Strange Knowledge. But I shan't share that with you. Not now.

Okay, one last weird thing: instead of a low fever when I went to the doctor to get my antibiotics, I had a low temperature. Could I be a reptile? Very strange.

And, lastly, for those of you with microscopes at home, here is what the flu really looks like: