I was driving my car, when that unmistakable feeling of nausea came over me. My heart fell, "Oh no! I have a stomach bug", I thought. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, took my eyes off the road for a second and found myself careening off to the side, my brake peddle pushed uselesslly to the floor. Just as my car did a roll, I woke with a shudder.

Breathing deeply to calm myself I realized with a sinking feeling that although I had just woken from a dream, my stomach ache was all too real. I lurched out of bed and headed to the bathroom. It was 1:30 am, Friday morning. I prepared myself for a long night. First I pulled back my hair into a ponytail and then....

what did I do next- any guesses?
Did I
a) wake up Ed for moral support
b) clean the toilet
c) take a drink to speed up the process

The correct answer is "b- cleaned the toilet". There is nothing nastier than staring down a dirty toilet bowl just as nausea is about to overcome you. So I lysoled the toilet and sat on the floor to wait for the inevitable. For the next 4 hours my body emptied itself and I swore I would never eat another meatball again. I got snatches of sleep in between episodes when I dropped myself sweating and trembling onto our air mattress in the spare room. All through the night I prayed for protection for the kids and Ed against catching this bug, as well as a quick recovery for myself. It also gave me time to pray for my dad, for his comfort and healing.***

At 5:30 I heard a cry from K's room. She usually doesn't get up that early, so I went in to check (having just finished my last bout in the bathroom). She was lying in the corner of her bed sucking her thumb, and in the opposite corner was her vomit. Poor thing. I don't even know when she threw up, because it was kind of dry. She must have done it at some time in the night and crawled off to sleep in a clean corner. I called out to Ed to come down and help out. He gave her a bath while I cleaned up her crib.

I went back to bed after nursing her and stayed there most of the day in a state of nausea, aches and pain, only getting up for brief periods to nurse or eat a couple of crackers. I woke up at midnight, and felt remarkably better.

This morning I felt almost normal, although my diet has not strayed from the "white" family- crackers, rice, noodles. K has thrown up her rice cereal today (and immediately splashed her hands in it to "play" with it), but has been able to keep down breast milk. I am just so thankful that the other members of my family remain well, and have been spared, for the time being...


***As I was praying for my dad in the wee hours of the morning, he woke up with an unstoppable nosebleed because of his low platelet levels. My mom rushed him to the hospital, via train, because of the snow storm. He will be at HUP for the next few days getting a new chemo treatment. Please continue your prayers for him***