It’s always so casual the way people say it. “Oh, sorry. We can’t make it to the party. I have a stomach bug.”
A bug doesn’t really do justice to what my kid has had to endure this weekend. It sounds too nonchalant. Just a petty nuisance, if anything.
Lolo has been in a nihilistic gastrointestinal nightmare since Friday night when she woke up at 9:30 pm having brought up all of her dinner in her sleep. I’ll keep the details of the night to a minimum. Suffice it to say that it was more than miserable and pretty gory. But, she endured it with courage as her stomach turned against her.
Saturday morning, I called her doctor’s office and spoke to a nurse who broke it down for me in plain English. She said, “This is going to take all weekend. This virus is violent and brutal and extremely contagious. I’m an ER nurse as well and the emergency room has been rocked by this thing. You don’t want her there. So you’re entire job is to hydrate her around the clock ,every 15 minutes. You’re not going to cook or clean or take care of errands. Your job is to get more liquids in her than she’s bringing back up. If you have 2-3 pee diapers today, then you’re golden. As long as she has kidney function, you should stay at home. Wash your hands like a dickens because if you don’t, you’ll get it, too.”
She didn’t know she was preaching to the choir on the hand washing. Seriously, my skin is going to revolt against me. I think I may need a skin transplant for my hands. It’s disgusting, but I have to endure the burn. I can’t get this thing or the Stinkerbean ship is truly sunk.
So, we’ve ordered takeout all weekend, been washing hot water loads of laundry around the clock and used more disinfectant wipes than is probably healthy. But, that’s okay. It’s all for the bean. She’s so very brave and the only one around who would think about smiling for the camera at a time like this.
Right now, the virus is attacking her lower G.I. tract, so it’s hopefully on its way out. But, it will take a few more days for her poor body to recover.
This is the sick boat where Lolo has been for days.
The bravest trooper to ever live.
This is supply central. Rice cakes, flour tortilla, banana and Pedialyte via medicine dropper.
It's disgusting.
stinkerbean 