A Week in the Sick House

The boys woke up Saturday morning congested and feeling a bit warm. Everyone seemed a little more tired than usual, but we still went about our weekend routine. We decided to keep the boys home from church on Sunday due to their projectile sneezing. I was starting to feel like staying in bed all day too, but managed to attend all three meetings and make it home before taking up what would become my semi-permanent residence on the couch. Monday morning I woke up with all the symptoms of pure misery: sweats and chills, headache, ear ache, sore throat, slight cough, queasy stomach, back spasms, and overall general achy-ness. By mid afternoon my tonsils had swollen to twice their usual size and were covered in puss. Lovely. Matthew came home feeling less than lively and Hyrum started mentioning that his tummy felt sick. 

The boys both slept in on Tuesday morning and Matthew stayed home with them so I could go to my appointment at the Purdue student health center. The doctor tested me for strep and mono, both of which came up negative, which meant there was nothing to be done but gargle salt water and wait for the sickness to pass. Matthew went into work that afternoon and Hyrum and I spent the next two days feeling mostly like this:

Matthew was definitely not feeling well when he got home on Wednesday, suffering primarily from extreme body aches. We put the boys to bed early, watched a movie, and just as we were getting into bed Matthew had the impression to put socks on Hyrum. He went in to find our poor boy had thrown up all over himself and the bedding. Matthew put Hyrum in the bath and curled himself up on the floor while I cleaned up in the bedroom. Hyrum vomited once in the bathtub, twice in the toilet, and then two more times in an empty trash can downstairs*. I sat with our son through the first 30 minutes of Cars while my poor husband took his turn throwing up. I was sent to bed, but was called upon sometime after midnight to help change an explosive diaper. I am grateful that my illness abated for an evening while Matthew was in his greatest hour of need. We all finally got to sleep in the wee hours of the morning. 

Thursday was my turn to be totally incapacitated. I've never been much of a vomiter, but my stomach emptied itself in an equally unpleasant manor. Matthew was still feeling sick enough to take the day off. I was sad to see him so ill, but very grateful to have had his help. I'm sure there was no way I could have made it through the day alone. As an added blessing, my kind visiting teacher brought over some dinner for the kids (since amazingly Hyrum had no loss of appetite). 

We all seem to be feeling much better today. Not totally back to normal, but certainly much better. Matthew was able to go into work, and I've actually done the dishes and a couple loads of laundry. I hope by tomorrow to be equal to the task of cleaning and sanitizing the house, and maybe even cooking.

By an act of extreme mercy, Abraham seems to have escaped with nothing worse than a runny nose. He's been napping well and entertaining himself and I couldn't ask for a happier baby. 

*We were both very impressed with how well Hyrum did with being sick. After the first time in his room, he could tell us when he needed to throw up and always made it to some sort of receptacle  in time. He said please and thank you when needing something, made sure I always had a blanket to keep my feet warm, and was even reasonably patient with his brother. I am very proud of him.