Illness Overload

Dan and I were talking one night a few weeks ago about how healthy everyone had been. I think we actually made it about two months without anything attacking our family. Of course, we jinxed it and the next day it all went downhill. When I picked up the kids on the Tuesday after the Fourth of July, Jacob's teacher said that he complained of a stomach ache after being outside for a few minutes in the afternoon. At home, he was utterly exhausted and skipped dinner and went to bed. I figured that he was just worn out from being up late the night before for the fireworks.

He woke up the next morning fine, went to school, ate great all day, ate dinner, played tons, and went to bed. At 11:00 he came out of his room crying. Keep in mind, that he never wakes up in the middle of the night unless he wet the bed. When I went in there he said that food came out of his mouth. Then it hit me.... and the smell. He threw up for the first time in his life and didn't understand what had happened. He then threw up off and on all night, making it into the bathroom each time, bless his heart! I kept him home on Thursday and he relaxed and watched a lot of TV and ate nothing. After drinking some juice (my first mistake), he threw up a ton. He then basically went to bed and slept about 14 hours straight! He woke up on Friday, refused anything to drink or eat, and then slept most of the day. He drank some gatorade and then threw it all up again. He refused any food that day, but woke up pretty normal on Saturday.

He ate well, played, and seemed good. Bailey, however, began having stomach issues, so she stayed home from church on Sunday, while I took Jacob. He seemed fine, but threw up later in the afternoon after a snack and juice. He became lethargic and slept all night and then threw up again in the morning. Dan stayed home with him and got him into the doctor. He had lost between 5-6 pounds and the doctor said his stomach was basically contorted from the virus and needed to gradually be reintroduced to foods and liquids. He gave him a prescription for his stomach, which did wonders. I stayed home with him on Tuesday and followed the plan. He felt great and was absolutely starving. However, I had to control his intake, which was very hard on him (and me). He finally made it back to school on Wednesday with restrictions on what he ate. By Friday he was back to a normal diet. I have never seen the stomach flu take that long to exit the system!

In the middle of all of this, we all got colds. Mine turned into another sinus infection. Ugh! The doctor said that if I keep getting them, I'll have to see an ENT and possibly go through the surgery similar to what Dan just went through. No thanks!!

Anyways, I think we're finally through it all. It's honestly hard to complain, though, as there are many going through MUCH greater illness than we have experienced. My grandparents are fighting their cancer very hard and are having a rough time, particularly my grandma. She is such a tough lady, but she is struggling and I feel so bad for her. I also have a 24-year old cousin undergoing chemo/radiation to fight a cancerous tumor. We just got news that the treatments are working and it is gone! However, he is very sick and weak. It's very hard to complain about colds and flu, when others are fighting for their lives. It really puts things into perspective.