When a Friend has Cancer, May I Complain About Having a Cold?

Everyone always says that they need a vacation from their vacation.  Well, I need a sick day from my sick day. 

There's a cold going around work and it finally landed on my desk.  After a noontime meeting and eating at my desk, the last thing I needed was four more hours of work.  Especially since I had been in the office for six hours.  Mr. Gaelic (we carpool) drove me home and wrapped me in a blanket.  I had some fun websites to visit (thanks to a chat session with Laoch), hot apple cider to soothe my throat, and three layers of fleece to help settle me in for a nap.  I slept for all of 30 minutes.

Not that my body didn't need the sleep and could have used more, but that our neighbor from across the street called asking if his two girls could come to our house after school.  The wife was recently diagnosed with lung cancer which has already spread to her liver, spine, hip, and shoulder.  The husband had to take the wife to the hospital because her pain medicine isn't blocking the pain.  Even sick with a head cold, you don't turn away the kids of a woman with cancer. 

Fine and good.  They stayed in the family room with Maeve playing Wii until supper.  But I still heard them.  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt!  Having a five-year-old saying, "I want..." and "Why...?" does not make for a restful afternoon.  Maybe it was easier when they were my own kids.  Maybe I'm becoming a codgerly old woman.  Or maybe, just maybe, I'm plain sick and tired.