Stomach Bug (with a vengeance)

Yes, sickness is newsworthy at our house mainly because it is so rare. We’re typically a pretty healthy bunch. So when I got the call from my daughter’s school that she was throwing up, I replied “Oh no!” But it wasn’t with a “bless her heart” tone. It was more like “OH! Noooooooo! Ewe!”

I promptly grabbed my things and headed out the door but had sense enough to grab a large popcorn bowl and towels. You know, just in case. Upon arriving at school, I find her in the bathroom trying to change her clothes but she has gotten sick again. All. Over. The. Floor. You can imagine my relief when they told me not to worry about it. At this point, my goal was to get her changed as quickly as possible and get the heck out of dodge.

The entire ride home she kept asking me to hurry, hurry. At home she continued the vicious 20-minute cycle for the next 5 hours. It was awful. It took 2 cycles for me to get her changed into PJs and set up shop. FYI – It was her idea to stay in the bathroom and I was happy to oblige since that kept her that much closer to the toilet.

The remainder of our day went a little something like this.

• She pukes.
• I clean her up and lay her down.
• She sleeps for 15 minutes while I run upstairs and try to work during the lull.
• She wakes up, yells for me, and I come barreling down the stairs.
• Repeat.

I had to think long and hard but, in the past, I can only remember her throwing up one time. She was an itty bitty (like 14 months) and it was a single, random occurrence. Either way, she was too young to have any recollection of the event. So yesterday she was a little out of sorts with the throwing up. Quite honestly, she was pitiful. She thought there was an actual stomach “bug” inside her body. With every cycle she would ask me if the bug came out. About half way through she said, “I’m TIRED of throwing up!” Another hour after that she started to ask, “Why am I STILL throwing up? It was pretty rough for me to watch my typically healthy girl be SO sick. It was horrible to watch her little body rid itself of any and every bit of sustenance and then wrench and writhe when that was gone. It was heartbreaking to see her fall asleep sitting up or resting her head on the potty. She was in a bad sort of way and there was nothing I could do.

After almost 4 hours of this vicious cycle I couldn’t take it anymore. I called in reinforcements (AKA my dear mother-in-law) and asked her to go to the health food store for me. Remember, we’re pretty healthy so all of the “stuff” I have on hand are preventitive measures. But I was knee-deep in RE-active mode so I requested peppermint oil, chewable probiotics and Rescue Remedy. The oil is a natural way to help with nausea and my hope was that this would help to break the cycle. The probiotcs were to get some “good” bacteria in her tummy to help fight off whatever crazy virus was wreaking havoc down there. As for the Rescue Remedy, that was for both of us. Nobody needs to be hysterical with everything else we had going on.

After the herbals arrived the cycle started to spread out by 30 minutes, then 45 minutes, then an hour, and it was done. The little girl tried a few sips of Gatorade and then a few spoonfuls of applesauce. When that stayed down I figured we were in the clear. By this point it was bedtime. She went right to sleep (HIGHLY unusual) but was up a few more times saying she was hungry and thirsty, which was a good sign. So we gave her a few sips of Gatorade and a piece of toast. All the while we were having some really bad storms here in Nashville. At 11 o’clock I was done physically and emotionally so I went to bed. That’s when hubby took over for 2nd shift. Bless him! He ended up sleeping on the floor in her room and refilling her Gatorade cup a few more times as she woke. This morning she slept until 8 am but woke up like the little girl that I know and love. In fact, she was bouncing on my bed requesting breakfast. 🙂 Today was spent sanitizing and washing anything and everything that The Little Girl came in contact with yesterday and particularly any items that had been with her at school. I’m talking shoes, lunchbox, everything.

After it was all said and done reports are that 13 kids were sent home yesterday and that didn’t include those who were puking left and right at dismissal. Today’s absentees totalled 81! This was one vicious little booger. I’ve never seen anything spread so fast. I’m certainly glad to see it gone from our house. Here’s hoping that mama and papa don’t get it either. We’ve already started our probiotics… because PROactive is how I roll. 🙂