Tales Of The Pink Bowl: And Then The Plague Descended...

If you read my previous blog post:  https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2019/02/vomiting-and-love-letter-to-math-teacher.html, you'll know that they day before Valentine's Day, my normally healthy son came down with the stomach something.  After the 5 o'clock disaster though, the kid seemed to be much better.  He took it easy during the day.  He drank tea and chicken soup. I did laundry. He took a nap (a definite clue to him being sick).  My husband made his bed. He took another nap.  He took a shower.  He went to bed.  

He got up and went to school the next day; which was a half day.  He hung out with some friends after school and ate pepperoni pizza. As a family we had dinner together.  It was Valentine's Day and nothing shows a mother's love more than leftover spaghetti and meat sauce.  (Which I had made on the snow day.)  He had the next day off and I had taken the day off as well, making it a four day weekend for us. All seemed well with the world.

That is until around 11:30 at night.  When I woke up.  All was NOT well with the world.  My stomach was definitely not happy.  Both of the boys were asleep.  For the next SIX HOURS I was crawling in and out of the bathroom.  (Not to make too vivid of a picture for you, but remember we had spaghetti and meat sauce for dinner.  It used to be one of my favorite things to make and eat... USED to be!) I don't know how the guys slept through it, but they did.  It was AWFUL.  I haven't been this sick since May of 2014, when my husband had the 24 hour stomach bug on a Tuesday and I got the same thing on Thursday.  When you're living in the bathroom for a day and the toilet bowl becomes both your best friend and your worst enemy, you don't forget...You DON'T forget...

But I am a mother.  All you fellow moms know what that means.  Just because you are at death's door doesn't mean you forgo your mom duties.  So despite feeling like...oh heck, I don't know what the heck I felt like...I got up and got dressed around 5:45.  WHY?  Because we had scheduled an early morning appointment for my son to get his HPV vaccination.  (If you hadn't guessed, now you know where I stand on vaccinations.)  When the appointment had been made, I guess we hadn't realized that it was President's Day weekend.  I had told my son that he just had to get up, throw on a pair of pants, shoes and a coat.  We would drive to the doctor's office.  He'd get the shot.  We'd come home and he could go back to bed.  Nothing was going to change that!  (My husband doesn't drive so it wasn't a task I could pass on to him.)

So the boys get up and get dressed.  We get in the car.  I drive them to the doctor's office.  I sit in the car, willing myself not to puke while they were in the office.  (Before leaving the house I made my son get the puke bowl down from the top shelf in the bathroom so that I could take it with me.  It's not an actual bowl; it's a pinkish plastic tub that came home with me after I had been in the hospital back in 2008...and that's a whole other disgusting story for another day.  Everyone needs to have a pink puke bowl in their house.  Even if it isn't pink.  Growing up, it was orange and was kept in a closet, but it served its purpose well over the many years.  If you do not have a puke bowl; get one and store it in the bathroom or closet; you will thank yourself one day for following this advice.)  I drove them back home and crawled back into bed with a pounding headache.  I was too afraid to take a Tylenol or any other drug.  

I laid there for several hours.  I slept a little.  I tried to watch a little tv too.  But mostly I just laid there.  And waited...

Twelve or so hours after it all began, I felt strong enough to do the weekly grocery shopping.  (If it's Friday, it must be Shoprite...)  Yes, I'm crazy, but I AM A MOM.  So I drag the boys with me and we do a relatively quick and easy grocery run.  (My son was instructed to stay by my side for the entire time.)  We weren't even gone for an hour and then I crawled back into bed, glass of ginger ale by my side.  (I know Gatorade is better for you, but my body was calling out for some ginger ale and that's what it got.)  I spent the rest of the day for the most part just lying there...which if you know me (or you are a crazed mom like me), you KNOW how impossible this is.  I'm the mom who had abdominal surgery on a Tuesday, came home from the hospital on a Friday and was doing laundry on Saturday!

By Saturday I was feeling better.  Good enough to do one regular load of laundry and then wash ALL the bedding (sheets, blanket, comforter and pillows); 5 loads in all!  (Remind me of that when my water and gas/electric bill arrive this month.)  I ran a couple of errands, but mostly stayed home and tried to rest some more.  For someone who always needs to be doing something, this is a CHALLENGE.

Meanwhile, my son (you know the one who started this all), walked down to the thrift shop where he helped out for four hours and then walked home.  When he got home later in the afternoon he said he was tired (understandable) and a little achy (also understandable).  He said his throat was a little scratchy.  (Uh oh!)  I tried to make light of it and figured that all of this could be a side effect of the HPV vaccine.  After all, my husband had also been feeling a little tired and achy after HIS pneumonia vaccine on Thursday.

Things seemed to be ok today (Sunday).  I'm still not 100%, but I did have my first cup of coffee since Thursday. (This might explain why I am frantically typing this as a million thoughts run through my mind of what I should be doing besides writing this and why am I NOT doing them...I SHOULD be doing them...there is so much I SHOULD be doing them...why am I NOT doing them???)  My son asked to go out and met some friends, which we were ok with.  His throat was still a little scratchy, so he took some water with him.  He told us he felt fine...

You know where this is going, right???

He came back an hour or so later saying he wanted to get more water and a warmer coat.  He didn't look great.  None of the 3 digital thermometers that I have in the house seemed to work.  (Sigh..)  He felt warm.  (Not really HOT but warm.)  We condemned him to bed and made him text his friends this.  Only then would he admit that he wasn't feeling great.  (How many talks have we had with this kid over the past DECADE about TELLING us when he feels bad???)  Two Tylenol were consumed and he's currently fast asleep.

And my husband?  I just turned to him and asked him how he feels.  Yeah...his throat feels a little "itchy."

Sigh...  Linens will be washed again.  Lysol will be sprayed again.  Anything that can be wiped down with Clorox wipe will be wiped down...the plague has descended once again...

EVENING UPDATE:  Okay, we can put away the puke bowl but it's almost time to pull out the strep test.  Both the guys both have sore throats, are warm and achy.  Can you guess what we'll be doing tomorrow?  Yes George Washington said,  "I cannot tell a lie."  (Ok, he didn't really say that...it's just a myth)  We will be heading back to our doctor's office as soon as I can get an appointment.  The boys can go in and while they wait, I will once again spray down the house with Lysol...What better way could we celebrate President's Day?  

AND IN CONCLUSION:  It's NOT Strep.  It's the FLU!  Yes, he had a stomach bug on Wednesday and the flu by Saturday.  AND we did get him a flu shot...this must be our lucky day?  Week?  Month???