The Stomach Flu
Friday:
It all started when AJ bought the rotisserie chicken from Costco. We brought it home but didn't eat it right away. Later that night, we reheated it and enjoyed it's scrumptious meat (even writing about the chicken makes me ill now, but at the time, it was scrumptious).Later that night, Rosie woke up in the middle of the night crying. I sat beside her, waiting for the tears to subside, but instead the crying intensified until vomit ensued. I will try to describe the vomit because it is essential to understanding the horror, but you are free to skip to the next paragraph. The vomit was a sick purple-brown and it was deeply digested. Sometimes when food have been in the stomach for a short amount of time, it come up looking a little chewed but not too bad. This one had been stewing and the smell was a permeating reek of chicken and acid. Also, this vomit was sticky - like mucus and snails. Just being in the same room as this vomit made me gag.
Alright, so after the first round of vomiting, I cleaned it up in relatively high spirits. Rosie went back to sleep and all was well, till a couple hours later she woke up again and there was more vomiting. This time, we were able to get half of it in the toilet, but there was still quite a bit of clean up for me. After I cleaned it up – through bleary blood-shot eyes – I sent Rosie back to bed, but my suspicions had been aroused.
"Was this an isolated incident? Was it the chicken?" I thought to myself.
Before returning to bed, I carpeted the room with our junk towels in case we had a repeat performance.
Later that night, before dawn broke, I heard a different child crying. I went to the kid's room and this time it was Simon who was throwing up. The throw up was identical to his sister's, and I strongly suspected food poisoning.
Saturday:
This round robin of vomit continued as the sun came up and well into the day. By this point, we were just feeding them water (a little at a time) and a little bit of rice porridge.
At this point, I was very tired, but still in high spirits. I had figured out a system where my kids laid on towels all day so if they every had to vomit, they could just vomit on the towel. I know people use bowls or trashcans or toilets, but it was too hard to get them to the toilet in time and I think their vomit aim was not good enough for a big bowl.
By the end of the day, Rosie was feeling better and I was optimistic, until she threw up again. Then AJ started feeling sick and laid on the couch looking pale and sweaty. He, however, never threw up. He channeled it downward, he said.
Sunday:
We all stayed home from church and the kids felt well enough to color and cause a mess.
Lots of toast and bananas and bland stuff.
I went to Publix looking like a mess to buy Gatorade and saltine crackers. "Everyone in my family is sick." I told the cashier. He looked at what I had bought and then back at me. "Well, they are all counting on you," he replied, "just make sure you don't get sick as well."
Choice last words.
Monday:
By now the vomiting has slowed down, but it still hadn't gone away completely. Especially poor Simon, he couldn't keep anything down but he was so hungry and constantly begged for food, any food."Max and cheese!" he begged. "Milk!" he begged. "Fruit snacks!"
I was good and didn't feed him dairy, but there was still a lot of things his stomach couldn't even handle, like Saltine crackers. We had him on a diet of saltine crackers, rice, gatorade, and rice porridge.
Later that day, I feel really sick, like I can't even stand up. Then I give in and join the vomit club.
I think AJ went into work for a half day, or maybe not, but at the end of the day we are both really worried about Simon. He is super lethargic, crying a lot, sleeping a lot, wanting to be held all the time.
I called his pediatrician and she suggested he go to the emergency room. So we rush off to Wolfson Children's Hospital at the ripe ol' hour of 9 p.m. Simon sits limply on our lap as we wait in a crowded reception area. There are little kids and angry parents but there are loud groups of adults too. "What are they doing here?" I ask myself as their loud conversation drowns out Spongebob Squarepants on the TV.
When we got in to see the nurse, they gave him a little white pill (Zofran). Apparently Zofran is given out to those suffering from nausea because of chemotherapy or early pregnancy. It worked wonders on Simon, and half an hour after taking the pill, he was sipping Gatorade and munching happily on animal crackers like nothing had happened. When the doctor came in to see him, I felt a bit sheepish, like I was wasting their time with this seemingly okay boy. The doctor was very kind, and gave us some tips on what to watch out for. "Basically," he said in a calm, slightly drone-like voice, "if they are drinking and hydrated, it's not a big deal that they are throwing up. They can go a long time without eating without serious consequences. It's hydration that is the real worry."
When we got home, I felt really hopeful, like maybe we had turned a corner. We just needed to give him the anti-nausea medication every 8 hours for the next few days and it would be okay....
Tuesday:
Early morning, Simon throws up again.Wednesday:
Simon is feeling well enough to eat popsicles and ride bikes. We are super prompt with his medication, fearing a small lapse will cause him to throw up.Thursday:
We are all feeling mostly better, though Simon has horrible diarrhea.Friday:
We think we're well enough to go down to Orlando to see AJ's parents for the weekend. We have Wendy's and set out for the two-hour drive. Half way down, Simon throws up all over himself. He ate a lot. We drive with the windows down even though we are going 70 on the freeway. |
| I had to clean this up with Wendy's napkins at a gas station. |
Simon throws up again when we arrive at his parent's house - but we blame it on the chocolate milk he drank. We only have 2 doses of pills left. It is super worrisome.
Saturday:
We go to Trail's End, an all-you-can eat Disney buffet. Simon hardly eats anything and lays down on his chair. We are getting worried about him again.We call our pediatrician and ask if she can give us more anti-nausea medication. She suggests we go to the emergency room again. We aren't keen on the idea. The last emergency room visit cost $1088.40 which was adjusted down to $457, but we still have to pay that out of pocket. We buckle down and just hope Simon will be okay.
Later that night, Rosie comes into the guest room crying because Simon has thrown up all over her.
Sunday:
AJ's dad goes in to work but feels so horrible that he just lies on the floor of his office. Later, as he tries to drive home, he throws up out the door of his car. Now we feel terrible, and we pack up to go home.
Later in the day, AJ's mom says she is feeling sick.
Okay, I'll end the timeline there because after that day, things slowly started to look up. But as you can see, it was a horrible, horrible week of vomit that slowly spread from Rosie, to Simon, to AJ, to me, to his dad, to his mom. I thought it was food poisoning at first, but with how long it stayed with us and with how it jumped from person to person, it was probably a bad virus.
So I'm hoping there are a lot of things you could learn from my experience, if not, hopefully it was entertaining.
Pink eye
Currently my family is battling pink-eye, so we are no stranger to the contagious diseases. I'm so sick of sickness, but I'm also numbed out to it and just hope that I can take it slow and let the disease run it's course.
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| Pink eye |
