Recently at our house it was every man (and dog) for themselves. The three adults living in our household got, well, something nasty.
The first to fall ill was my husband. He stayed home from work on a Thursday with what seemed to be a severe cold. It escalated quickly into a croupy cough with body aches and he was in to see a doctor on Friday. The doctor told him it was viral and probably a cold because he was only running a low-grade temperature at the time. 
The low temperature was only temporary. By Friday night, I was ill with whatever it was and Mom was sick by early Saturday morning.
For 48 hours, everyone was on their own.
I’m somewhat better now, but it was a rough road getting back to a semi-functional state. Having everyone in the house go down at the same time highlighted some things to have on hand and be aware of — just in case.
1. You may be contagious.
One of the best pieces of advice the doctor gave my husband on Friday was that he needed to stay out of the herd because he was contagious. Boy was he. At the time, we just thought it was an annoying cold. Even if it was just an annoying cold, going into a store crowded with shoppers or a workplace was going to expose everyone to that active virus. 
The flip side of 

that coin is that you may be in a store or a company where someone is walking around spreading germs. Which leads to the next tip.
2. Wash your hands often with soap.
The Mayo Clinic 

website, www.mayoclinic.org, points out that when you touch stuff during the day you are also picking u

p germs. You pass these germs on to yourself when you touch your mouth, nose or eyes. 
The Mayo Clinic warns to wash hands often when you are: Handling contact lenses, when making food, changing diapers;, using the bathroom, handling pets or animals, sneezing, coughing, blowing your nose, caring for ill or injured folks, handling household trash or shaking hands 

with anyone.
The website also points out that antibacterial soap isn’t any better at killing germs than regular old soap. The sit

e even gives instruction on the most efficient way to wash your hands. 
Remember to: Use running water to wet your hands; apply soap (liquid, bar or powdered); lather well and rub your hands for at least 20 seconds; scrub all areas of your hands (backs, wrists, between fingers, under the nails); rinse well under running water; use a clean towel, disposable towel or air dryer; and use a towel or elbow to turn off the water.
But what if you’re on the go?
You can find those complimentary hand sanitizers on the walls in almost every store. You can buy sanitizing wipes and pocket-sized sanitizing liquid that can travel with you. 
The Mayo Clinic says that alcohol-based sanitizers are an acceptable alternative for cleaning your hands when soap and water are not available.
3. Keep a few extra cans of emergency soup around.
Fortunately, we had several cans of soup in the pantry, some juice and crackers. Even my husband can open a can of soup and heat it up in the microwave. When you do finally feel like eating, having soup, juice and crackers on hand is a real blessing.
4. Know when to call the doctor.
WebMD.com recommends that sooner is better than later. The site lists symptoms to help you determine if you have the flu.
Among them: Fever; headache; tiredness; coughing; sore throat; running or stuffy nose; muscle aches; and nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.
Any of the above symptoms, according to WebMD, may indicate you have the flu and you should call your doctor. If you get worse after a few days, WebMD recommends you call the doctor immediately. 
Look for things like: A returning fever, a fever for more than three days, unable to stop vomiting and wheezing. 
The site warns you to be especially aware of an infant or young child, or someone with a chronic medical condition showing flu symptoms. 
Having trouble breathing, a stiff neck or severe headache? WebMD says to immediately seek emergency medical help. Call 911.
5. If you have pets, don’t allow yourself to run low on pet foods.
Even poor Chiquita suffered. Not only did no one take her for a walk for two days or play with her, she ran out of food after a couple of days. The poor thing was just getting food dumped unceremoniously into her bowl, water poured in the general direction of her dish and occasionally had someone stumble to the door to let her out. Otherwise, she was pretty much ignored. 
The lesson we learned is to plan ahead. Keep emergency pet food on the shelf that is easy to feed and have a system in place for letting pets outside to relieve themselves.
Your family may not all come down with the flu at the same time. However, even if one person gets sick — the primary caregiver for instance — it can disrupt the entire household for days. 
If you think you may be ill, you can benefit from the lessons our family learned the hard way: Stay out of the herd, keep some emergency soup (and pet food if you have a pet) on hand, wash your hands with soap and running water often and know when to call the doctor.

Marsha Hinton, ghostwriter, can be reached at www.marshahinton.com.

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