We Have Been Sick:(

Monday Grace came home from Field Day and was sick.  We pondered if she was dehydrated from her morning experience or if it was the stomach flu.  It is a running joke in our house that my husband ALWAYS blames stomach ailments on "it must have been something s/he ate."

I had a blinding headache Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  The kind that is like knives in my eyes and I am light and sound sensitive.  We finally went to the Chiropractor on Wednesday morning and by that evening my headache was gone:)

Just in time for...Buddy to get sick!  Nope, wasn't dehydration.  Miss Ellie started something fun lol!  Beautiful was sleeping in tent with 4 of her friends (the Furious Five) that night at a friend's house.  We got to bed after midnight (like usual with our night owl 3 year old) but when we heard the thunderstorm we got up at 3:30 and watched the news to see if there was risk of a tornado like the devastating ones last weekend (there wasn't).  We got back into bed a little after 4 and...in staggered JJ with...the flu.  He was sick for 8 hours, frequently.  The whole time I kept thinking that if I got it I would not be handling it nearly as well as he did.   He started eating late afternoon insisting that he should also play outside-his energy level was back to almost normal.  I told him that he was sick so couldn't play outside.  He responded, "but I ate my strawberries, I am better!"  When another child decided later that she had an upset stomach and JJ had to hand over his bucket, he asked "why?"  I told him he wasn't sick anymore so didn't need it.  He said, "if I'm not sick I can go outside!!"  He is always quick on the uptake.

Friday we all felt well and did well.  My husband walked to the nursing home 6 blocks away to wheel his mother to our garage so she could go through some of her belongings.  We can't get her into the house as we don't have wheelchair access.  I am glad she couldn't come in the house because...Friday night I got it.

Silver Lining:  When I was feeling yucky and knew what was coming I asked my husband to please clean the toilet for me.  He went far and above using the new toilet pumice stone to clean ALL of the toilet rings in the house!  Isn't he awesome!  I love our new toilet ringless toilets;)  I love my awesome husband too:)

My husband slept on the futon in an attempt to stay away from my germs.  Ha!  Early Saturday morning he was sick too.  I think there should be some kind of Murphy's Law that does NOT allow both parents to be sick at the same time.  But...no such thing appears to exist.

Silver Lining: As my husband and I spent the entire day unable to get vertical, or even sit up, I was so impressed with our newly 14 year old Buddy.  Beautiful is a bit of a, well, hypochondriac and if she thinks that someone around her is sick she thinks she is sick.  So...that put the oldest 3 of us confined to our bedrooms and Buddy in charge (she still hasn't gotten sick by the way).  He fed the 4 youngest children, entertained the children, and disciplined the children.  He did GREAT!  If you know Buddy personally you know that being around people (especially his younger siblings) for long periods of time requires a retreat to solitude for a time before he can re-engage.  He really stepped up to the plate though and we are so proud of him.  Even today, when my husband and I are still not doing well, he has once again fed and cared for the younger ones.  Granted, the kids have watched 4 Star Wars movies and played a lot of Wii, but he did great lol!  In typical Buddy style he also watched Frozen with them...with the language turned to French!  His sense of humor is...quirky;)

Last night my husband I finally ventured upstairs to lay there after supper.  I thought it to be a major feat that I was able to stay vertical for an entire 5 minutes to finish loading and start the dishwasher without fainting!  That was my major accomplishment of the day:)  We had Superman keep JJ outside as long as possible to make him tired so we could get him to bed at a decent hour (10:30) so we could sleep again.

Today I have remained quite weak and standing for any length of time, or even sitting up, has been difficult.    The severe body aches that I had yesterday and today were thankfully symptoms that only I have had out of everyone who has gotten sick.  Once I felt safe enough to try Tylenol it didn't even touch them.  I just kept laying there thinking that I was fortunate that this would pass soon and it was not like I have morning sickness that lasts for months or nausea/illness from cancer treatment, etc.  I keep thinking about Grace's aunt who is on a ventilator right now and very, very sick at a transplant hospital awaiting a possible double lung and liver transplant.  Surely I can survive 2 days of severe body aches compared to what she has persevered with in her 26 years with Cystic Fibrosis.

But...I digress...

Silver Lining:  48 hours into this I am able to sit without feeling like I will faint and stand for longer periods of time.  I am thankful that this is Memorial weekend and I will have another day to recuperate before I have to go to work on Tuesday:)

More Silver Lining: I have enjoyed the uninterrupted time sequestered with my husband. Even though we did not talk much and slept a lot it was time together.  We did express our appreciation that our youngest is almost 4 and we don't have any "babies" that would have made this more difficult.  Now that Buddy has proven his ability to watch his siblings well we just may have to utilize him more...especially with his older sister working full time this summer...Hmmmmmm;)

5 down...will the last 3 get it?  We shall see!