It all started out innocently enough last Tuesday afternoon. The neighbor kids came over to play while their mom ran an errand. My kids have a blast with them, there are 4, all perfect genders and ages for my kids. As the party moved outside, Marshall decided he needed to just "lay down for a minute". Should have been my warning, right? I didn't think too much of it. He mentioned his stomach hurting and like all good moms, I bombarded him with embarressing questions that no one would want to answer and suggested he attempt to use the bathroom. Of course none of that worked, so we went outside where he proceded to lay limply on my chest while I supervised the girls in their play. I decide that I could carry my "sleepy" boy over to chat with my friends across the street. I was there maybe 30 seconds when Marshall declared his stomach didn't feel right. I started to turn around to head back to the house, but obviously didn't move quick enough. I'll leave the rest to your horrified imaginations. Suffice it to say that I believe I heard my friends husband gag and Marshall and I ended up showering while the girls were still outside. Wednesday he added a fever and real lethargy to his happy little bouquet of symptoms. I foolishly believed all would be well and life would continue on as planned when he woke up Thursday morning and said "Mommy, my sickness is all gone!"
Sabbath rolled around and we went about our business as usual. We were up, dressed and at church by 0830 as Abby was doing the scripture reading and prayer for the Adult Sabbath School class. She did beautifully, by the way! We all attended our various classes and met back in the Sanctuary in time for church. Abby collapsed her head into my lap and looked a bit peaked. I knew then what the remainder of my day would hold. We scooted out when everyone stood up for the first song. We weren't home long before she started in full force as well. If you know Abby, you know that she doesn't seem to have as many natural endorphins as the rest of us, so each and every pain and illness hits her harder than anyone else I know! She pretty much hung out on a sleeping bag in the living room for 36 hours. To make it worse for her, we were invited to a friends birthday party that afternoon. I had to leave my poor sick baby on the floor to take the other two partying. It was quite the shindig. Complete with 10 foot inflatable water slide and all. Poor Abby couldn't even pull herself up to peer out the window to catch a glimpse of the slide. We were there about 15 minutes when I went home to check on Abby (who had her first dose of Phenergan ever 30 minutes before, hence my obsession with frequent check-ins) and to get Marshall's pool shark. Jeremy called and I was updating him on Abby's status when Marshall appeared on the front step. I tossed said shark out the door and went about my phone call. I noticed Marshall still out on the porch hopping about in a very Marshall like way and just figured he was waiting to escort his dear Mum back across the street. I was wrong. When I hung up and went outside, he headed straight for me and buried his head in my shorts. When I could finally pry him off of me, I was shocked to see my little boys perfect face marred. It turns out he was kicked right in the eye by a rather large girl going down the slide. Good news is he was wearing his swim goggles. Bad news is that he was hit so hard that the goggles caused a 2 cm laceration below his eyebrow and a longer, but more shallow mark under his eye. Oh, and swelling. So now, I'm leaving my recently medicated 11 year old ill child home alone with a neighbor (from the party) to check on her, my crazy, no fear 4 year old playing around water with neighbors (at party) to keep an eye on her and taking my brave little guy to the Urgent Care Clinic for medical care. You can't tell from the photo, but it was actually quite a deep gash that probably could have used stitches, but there weren't any doctors at the Urgent Care Clinic (Who woulda thunk it??) and I wasn't willing to take him to the regular ER with all the bugs that fly around there. So Steri Strips it was.
This is him after realizing nothing terrible was going to happen to him. He became quite proud of his "war wounds" and has been telling everyone about it, right Uncle Joel? In the spirit of great fishing tales, I have a feeling that by the time he is 40, he will have had an avulsed forehead, loss of conciousness and still was able to go back to the party to lightsaber that giant girl who wronged him!I was actually thankful that the rest of Saturday was just Abby and her tummy bug!
Sunday (aka Mothers Day), we awoke, Abby still ill and at this point refusing solid or liquid nourishment. Turns out the roof of her mouth was so sore, she couldn't bear to let any of the caustic substances(water, juice, applesauce) I was offering her pass. I couldn't bear another trip to the Urgent Center, so I darted out to tell my friends that I wouldn't be able to make our 11am reservations for Mothers Day brunch at the Officers Club AND to ask my handy dandy doctor friend to take a look inside Abby's mouth. A prescription for viscous Lidocaine later, I was on my way to Walmart.
We managed to motor right on through Sunday and Monday. A friend in the cul de sac had invited us for dinner on Sunday (she cancelled because she was sick!) and rescheduled Monday. Since everyone in her house was well that day and Abby seemed so much better, we went. It was a great time. She showed me how to make this dish that she learned how to make while stationed in Japan. It was SOOO good and the relaxed atmosphere was like a balm for my soul. ALMOST. Abby decided to take not one, but TWO naps on her sofa in the 3 hours we were there. She was sick again. All the way through to Wednesday.
As fate would have it, that's when things took a turn for the worse for me. Turns out your handy dandy super-ER nurse immune system will develop chinks in its armor if one is say, not gainfully employed for 8 straight years. I will admit that the last few days have been a bit of a blur for me, but I can tell you that somewhere in there, Amelia couldn't fight it off any longer either, so I had the two of us going at the same time. All I know is this, I have come out of all this a bit thinner, a bit wiser and with a lot more respect for hand sanitizer and infectious disease researchers. I am fortunate. I still have the same 3 kids I had when it started and I've found that there must be more time in my schedule for naps than I originally thought because somehow I managed a 3 hour nap Wednesday AND to sleep through most of Thursday. There were at least 3 sleeps that would constitute a nap yesterday and multiple other narcoleptic episodes throughout the day that I dearly hope won't scar my children or be the reason they need therapy as adults. I have never been so thankful for that genius Walt Disney before! In teh spirit of helping out my fellow man, I'd like to pass on a tidbet of knowledge to you all.... Never, I mean NEVER put the only seemingly well child in a house who full of the stomach virus from H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS to bed on the top bunk. If you never take any other piece of advice I offer, take this one.
Today, I was able to get some laundry done, do some shopping for the weekend and take the kids outside to play for once. Amelia got her self in a bit of trouble and was sent to sit on the step at one point (at my friends house). Abby came downstairs and calmly said that Amelia had something on her face. I walked over to find my youngest child in the midst of what looked like something from that tv show 48 hours. Her entire face, cheeks down, forearms, and shirt were COVERED with blood. It looked like she should be ready for a transfusion. Here's the amazing part. SHE NEVER SAID A WORD! If not for Abby, she would have bled for 4 continuous minutes without uttering a peep. A simple nosebleed. Washed up, taken care of, more laundry.
Please let it be that simple. After this week, nothing would surprise me!
I'll leave you with this image.... Abby Saturday afternoon. I don't have a technological bone in my body, so know that this isn't photoshopped or washed out in color......
This may be the new poster for proper handwashing techniques and anti cart licking propaganda!
2 comments:
You have a remarkable ability to make horror into comedy. I'm sorry for your pain, but really I feel so good after reading about it that something must be wrong with me...or you! Thanks for sharing.
Love Ryan's comment. Have to admit that I laughed. So sorry! =) But I'm very glad that everyone seems to be feeling better now.
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