Just so you know, Mom

this is how you're gonna feel. Jacob has been sick since Wednesday with a high fever, chills, joint aches, headache, sore throat and coughing. He is feeling much better today - but yesterday afternoon I started feeling his pain(s).

He just dropped by my recliner to give me a glimpse of what I might be in for. It went like this:

"Well, Mom, I'm gonna give it to you straight. You are going to be miserable. Maybe more miserable than you've ever been in your whole life -- and that's a long time, in your case.

On a scale of 1 - 10, your head is going to be a pounding 9.5. Your nose is going to be so clogged up that when you try to blow it, it hurts above your eyes and bumps your headache over the 10 mark.

Your eyes hurt when you are in the light. First, you get hot and then you get cold and then you get hot again. There is no happy temperature. There is no happy anything. Your knees are going to hurt, where you move your shoulder hurts and your elbows hurt -- all about a 7.

You can't breathe through your nose, so you have to keep your mouth open all the time. Prepare to be a filter feeder. Then, since your mouth is open all the time, your throat hurts -- that's about an 8. All the Sucrets in the world don't keep your throat from hurting.

When you cough -- and you will cough -- your lungs feel like they are coming out of your chest and even when your done coughing, your chest will still hurt.

Don't worry though, Mom. I'll be here to take care of you just like you were there to take care of me."

Thankfully -- I don't think I have what he had. He made it sound every bit as miserable as he has looked. I just have the head congestion, ears stopped up and I feel as if a Mack truck has parked on my chest. And when I cough -- and I do cough -- my lungs feel like they are coming out of my chest. He got that part exactly right.