visiting with sick friends/relatives

[GoinToDisney]

Most of my friends with kids will post-pone visits with friends or relatives if anyone is sick. For example, if my parents are sick, they know that we will see them when they are no longer contagious and same goes for when we are sick. No use just spreading the germs around unnecessarily. We got a lot more conservative with this after we had our daughter and also after I had c.diff from taking anti-biotics. I was just wondering if others are the same way. Dh's relatives had a family dinner and at least 3 or 4 people there were sick. We still went because it was a special occasion and because we knew they would give us a hard time. However, now we just have to hope that we get by without the flu/colds/whatever else they had when we just got over the stomach bug this week.

 

[caracap]

Commons colds don't bother me, anything else I keep my family far away from. Fevers, stomach bugs, rashes, etc...

 

[GoinToDisney]

So I'm not crazy? Because dh's family acts like I am crazy when I don't want to share their colds.

 

[my2boyzrock]

So I'm not crazy? Because dh's family acts like I am crazy when I don't want to share their colds.

NO! you are not crazy...we were just visiting my SIL on Saturday (an hour and 1/2 away) and my nephew had a fever/runny nose/cough. She never told us and we probably wouldn't have gone had we known. We tried to keep our kids at a distance from him, but he's only 4 and loves my boys...Now DS9 is home today with the same thing. I'm sure DS6 will wake up w/ it tomorrow!

 

[jennifer293]

Heck NO..you are not crazy!!! I don't want any of that mess going around and I sure don't want to be up at 3 am cleaning puke out of my carpet and my kids beds!! Or develop some crazy funk of a skin rash. You stick to your guns on this one!!

 

[RMulieri]

No you are not crazy...I still visit people when they are sick..., but let me clarify.I am an RN and spend 12 hr shifts with nothing but sick people..so unless someone tells me not to visit..I do.I rarely get to see my family as it is so I still visit if they are sick.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

I totally understand where your coming from! I was really annoyed over the weekend because my neighbors invited us over to see their new grand-daughter, and we get over there, half the people in the house are blowing their noses and look horrible. After we left, I said to DH that it was really nice of them to invite us over to share their bug!

 

[mom2aredhead]

I would say it depends...

Common cold symptoms...no I would not change my plans. Germs are everywhere, so I pick my battles so to speak. If you tried to avoid every germ in the world, you'd be living in a bubble with no one but a bottle of purell for company. I'm not going to postpone church, food shopping or going out in public because someone there might have a cold.

Fever, stomach virus, pink eye, chicken pox, shingles, or anything else that might fall into the "highly contagious" category and would put one of us out of commision for any period of time...yes I would cancel my visit if I was aware of it.

That being said, my mother is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer and currently has a compromised immune system. Her situation is obviously different from my (relatively) healthy little household as she needs to be much more careful right now. If she was expecting us for a visit and my son had cold symptoms (which are much harder to keep to yourself when you are 4) we probably wouldn't go, but that is more the exception than the rule.

 

[jazzmine]

I would say it depends...

Common cold symptoms...no I would not change my plans. Germs are everywhere, so I pick my battles so to speak. If you tried to avoid every germ in the world, you'd be living in a bubble with no one but a bottle of purell for company. I'm not going to postpone church, food shopping or going out in public because someone there might have a cold.

Fever, stomach virus, pink eye, chicken pox, shingles, or anything else that might fall into the "highly contagious" category and would put one of us out of commision for any period of time...yes I would cancel my visit if I was aware of it.

Same here.

 

[GoinToDisney]

Lesson learned. I now have the flu and am trying to figure out how one earth I will take care of my 3.5 year old dd without getting her sick. See, they got us because it was my dh's grandfather who is in his eighties who was sick. That was all we knew about. His grandmother said that Pop would just sit in the corner and that it was not a sit-down meal. We thought about it for a nhour and went back and forth. We said if it were his grandmother (who was cooking) who was sick, we would skip it. But we felt like we had to go because they are older and who knows how long they will be around. Plus, they were doing all this to celebrate the Feb. birthdays. My bday and dh's bday plus BIL's bday and FIL's bday. We knew his grandmother would have been really mad if we didn't come. We should have followed our own rule. Now I have a fever and my whole body hurts. My chest is also hurting. Thankfully, I already have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow afternoon. Oh, the other thing that gets me is that this is soooo obviously not a cold, but the flu. If we had known that a fever and all was involved and that it was not just a cold, we wouldn't have gone. We did not have flu shots. PLUS, my dd had an allergic reaction while we were there because she is allergic to pork and pn/tn (nuts). We think that my MIL rinsed off some pasta for her that had sauce on it cooked with meatballs with pork and presented it as though she had set them aside for her before adding sauce. Last time she prepares her food.

Sorry to vent. It feels good to get all of that out, though!