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Original poster

Anyone else facing the dressing gown of doom today?

64 replies

WhenYouCantRunYouCrawl · 03/11/2019 08:33

DD had a cold last week. She's been a bit cranky but otherwise ok. Then I got it and it went straight on my chest. Still managed to get out and about and go for a run though, so not that bad.

Got up early this morning to do some work. Then heard a shuffling down the stairs. It was DH. He's caught the cold. You all know the Shuffle of Sadness. It's almost always accompanied by the Dressing Gown of Doom, along the with Voice of Suffering.

I know I should feel more sympathetic...but after soldering on all week and managing to do all the housework, childcare, and shopping, plus my work from home job, I'm really low sympathy. I'm a terrible person, aren't I...

OP posts:
KTCluck · 03/11/2019 09:34

Disfordarkchocolate if your DH’s family of nurses is anything like my family of nurses it won’t have been a shock to him. No one gets sympathy unless they are properly ill in our family. My DM used to say she’d sympathised with ill people all day and had none left. Poor DF didn’t dare develop man flu Grin

MrsBobBlackadder · 03/11/2019 09:36

Oh god I've got one of these this morning. The life-threatening symptoms started yesterday and apparently progressed rapidly during the day (not so severe to prevent him drinking whisky and 'just one small beer' last night though).

I am fully expecting said dressing gown to make a full on appearance this morning, along with the ability to do nothing except eat, and play on the PS4. We'll see...

CakeNinja · 03/11/2019 09:41

Dp is wearing ‘the jumper’. It’s the hideous old thing he’s had for 20 years with a hole under the armpit that he drags out once a year when he’s feeling under the weather.
He is however still getting on with stuff. But because he’s wearing ‘the jumper’, ‘i know’ he’s feeling a bit shit.
No words have been spoken, it’s a form of communication in itself.

MarioSisters · 03/11/2019 09:43

lesion GrinGrinGrinGrin

PrincessHoneysuckle · 03/11/2019 09:43

I absolutely love Dressing gown of Doom threads

SoyDora · 03/11/2019 09:44

I genuinely couldn’t deal with this. DH is rarely ill and when he is he tends to crack on regardless. When he phoned in sick and went back to bed once a couple of years ago I knew it must be really bad... turned out he had quinsy and he ended up in hospital for three days.
I’m far more pathetic when I’m ill!

Hugsgalore · 03/11/2019 09:51

My Dh is a fucking pain in the arse when he has so much as a sniffle. He had a snotty nose on Wednesday. Came home from work, sat on the sofa and read a book all day... apart from eating dinner... completely ignored our dd and went to bed before she did. It really pisses me off. I'd hate to see him if he actually had something wrong with him .

Windygate · 03/11/2019 10:14

Serious question: what happens when a M2F trans person gets a cold? They've had a lifetime of male privilege and indulging in manflu. Do they battle through or revert to type in a floral dressing gown of doom?

GrotbagsBetterLookingSister · 03/11/2019 10:20

In our house it's the other way around: dh gets on with it and I mope about feeling sorry for myself. I hate feeling ill and tired. Also, I do spend lots of my time looking after other people so when I'm poorly I feel like I deserve to be looked after. I don't see the point in being a martyr.

MsAwesomeDragon · 03/11/2019 10:40

Dh doesn't do this. He carries on with everything. I think it's partly because he spent so much of his childhood being ill with a chronic illness that he grew out of, and then again in his young adulthood with a different chronic illness that he hasn't grown out of but is well managed and under control now. So to him, being ill is just something that happens, and life can't stop when he's ill or he wouldn't have had a life at all.

I, on the other hand, have always been healthy, so a cold or virus feels like the end of the world. I'm much more moany about being a bit under the weather, although I do just take some lemsip and carry on in my "I'm poorly" jumper

MitziK · 03/11/2019 10:40

There was a threat of it last night when he got in from work and some shopping the pub and said he needed a nap because his throat felt a bit swollen (with the appropriate hand gestures). His nap lasted until 7pm, coincidentally getting him out of the housework he insisted he was going to be doing when he got in.

But then he remembered he'd had the flu jab, so is bolloxed in terms of being ill - apparently, were it not for having that, he would be 'really unwell'. It's a fucking sniffle. I've had it - swollen throat for 24 hours, few sneezes, all done in 48.

The DTwatCat helpfully went to sleep on the Dressing Gown of Doom (where DP had dumped it on the floor yesterday morning) and then furballed it. So he's had to get up and get dressed to put it in the washing machine rather than shuffle about under the hood like a Jedi Angel of Death.

He's now slowly doing housework whilst sniffing sadly and sneezing occasionally. I'd suggest that he got the vacuum out, but it is his birthday, so I'm not being that cruel.

I'll do it when he goes for an afternoon nap.

nevergotthehangofthursdays · 03/11/2019 10:54

Your cat isn't stupid MitziK GrinGrin

Bearfrills · 03/11/2019 11:00

It's serious in the Frills household today. DH not only has the Dressing Gown of Doom on, he's also wearing the Questionably Saggy Sweatpants. His Shuffle of Sadness is accompanied by the whisper-whisper of my slippers that he's jammed the front half of his feet into while his heels hang over the back.

DD1 and DS2 have both had a sick bug this week, one day of vomiting and right as rain the following day. He hasn't got the sick bug though. Oh no. He has FOOD POISONING or NOROVIRUS which is basically a sick bug but sounds far more serious.

I'm an emetephobe so I don't even feel bad about telling him to stay away from me Grin

moobar · 03/11/2019 11:08

Can I join you all.

DD and I had sick bug this week, like PP dh now has norovirus.

I can't see him shuffling because he's in the spare bedroom. Texting me. I'm going to turn the wifi off and blame the rain. I have five puppies three dogs and a baby. No time for him today....

On a serious note with sickness bugs do we risk getting it again? I thought I had cleaned everywhere and he's a week behind us. How do these bugs work when Precious first born collects them from nursery......

Bearfrills · 03/11/2019 11:10

If its noro then you're immune for around 14wks afterwards, I'd presume most sick bugs are of the same family of bugs?

www.nhs.uk/news/heart-and-lungs/norovirus-qa/

iklboo · 03/11/2019 11:13

Is he doing The Voice? That weak & trembly one like he's got the plague?

moobar · 03/11/2019 11:15

@Bearfrills sorry I was so unclear there. He is same as your dh, has our bug, but claiming norovirus.

Hoping all sick bugs are the same like you say. It's DD I feel sorry for, she's only little.

Shinyletsbebadguys · 03/11/2019 11:26

Fortunately dp and I are remarkably healthy this weekend (sadly DP has the dressing gown of doom when hes not ill which is a tired out germ ridden embarrasment to fleece but i suppose its only used for half an hour on a sunday morning while he feeds ddog so ill have to let him pass on that one ) but to compensate dm on a rare contact has filled me in about how she is still recovering from a bout of (genuine only because the GP tests confirmed it ....dm has form so only medically verified illnesses get more than a perfunctory oh dear now) campylobactor. ...3 weeks ago!

Now granted campylobactor is rotten but three weeks and no antibiotics needed.

Current management includes
Not eating bagged salad because she's "petrified" she went wash it well (she was eating it a week ago) ...dm didn't appreciate my suggestion to put it through the dishwasher.

Not eating any meat ever again (this one could be valid....sort of except she had pate and steak a few days ago)

No egg's (except for hollandaise sauce yesterday apparently )

Nothing except gino what's his names ready meals (clearly NHS guidelines on recovery nutrition there )

However the important thing is she has just had two toes removed for mobility purposes (she actually got sympathy there i admit ). Apparently three weeks ago having campylobactor and two toes removed caused her to speak raspily on the phone and cough every so often.

Very confused I asked if she had a cold ? No says the patient it's the operation and of course the devastating campylobactor (did I mention it was three weeks ago and she's had an op in the meantime? This bacteria legged it ages ago...smart move bacteria with my mother )

The conversation did not end well when I asked how in hell did her toes affect her vocal cords? Or her chest?

Pashazade · 03/11/2019 11:32

I occasionally fantasise about getting really poorly so I too can don the dressing gown, never bloody happens, it's always DH who is the poorly one. I appear to have the constitution of an Ox. Hmm

Sparklfairy · 03/11/2019 11:38

IME the men that do this are the very ones who scoff 'oh childbirth can't be THAT bad', yet one sign of a sniffle and they take to their bed for a week Hmm

jellycatspyjamas · 03/11/2019 11:45

In fairness I’m the one in bed this weekend - I’ve got a cold, DH says he literally saw it come on last night and has packed me off to bed while he takes the kids to visit family. Grateful as I am for the rest and peace and quiet I must confess I’m thinking about getting some housework done while I don’t have the kids under my feet!

Span1elsRock · 03/11/2019 11:50

DH has got an inguinal hernia that he discovered last month, so we're in a constant state of "oooh" and "ouch" and "oh I can't do that, it may pop my hernia"......... and apparently it keeps making him fall asleep in the chair Hmm but funnily enough hasn't stopped him playing 18 holes of golf this morning.

It's about 1cm max, only diagnosed a few weeks ago and he's been told he will need surgery (mesh via keyhole). His hypochondria is now off the charts Confused. He's convinced himself that it could be a cancer of some sort, that the GP is wrong, and has booked himself in for a bowel scope............

It's going to be a long few months.................

Ilovetolurk · 03/11/2019 11:56

Oh OP you made me chuckle. It’s definitely a man thing

DS 15 had a tummy bug last year. I checked on him in the middle of the night “Mum you need to call an ambulance - I need to go on a drip” Grin

SunshineAngel · 03/11/2019 12:05

My partner isn't TOO bad when he has a cold, but he certainly can't do anything else. He usually spends a fair bit of time on his computer (which works fine for me as I work downstairs or watch things on TV that he'd complain at were he in the room) but when he's ill he doesn't even want to do that, so he just sits with the remote to the TV, flicking between videos on YouTube, all of which are absolutely crap, and I end up going to the gym or reading about 30 novels in the space of the few days he's ill.

I'm actually quite sympathetic most of the time as it takes a lot to make him behave like that, but my god, if it was me I'd just go and chill out in bed or something!

cannotmakemymindup · 03/11/2019 12:06

Yes! Whilst DH does not have a dressing gown he does have The Hoodie which he wears when ill. Always in bed early and acting like he can't do anything much around the house when he has s cold, sorry man-flu. Gives me the rage. I can guarantee that I have still worked, looked after our Dd who also was ill plus ooh had my period but he wants to mope? (last time I was making a wedding cake and cupcakes through it all)
I really don't have much patience when he is ill because he manages to time it with a weekend so can just relax and be in bed at 7pm. Pah!