Tummy Ache

        Ooooh, my tummy.  Kiley came in bright and early Monday morning with a stomach virus. Because she was sick, her mother had tried to make it easier on me by having her own mother watch Kiley that day while I looked after Mackey, but I knew that “Mom-mom” had work to do so I went over and took Kiley off her hands. She looked so pathetic! She had been throwing up the night before and felt miserable. A stomach virus is the worst. I personally would rather be sick in any other way and I am sure Kiley was feeling the same way. She just lay on the sofa, crying every now and then, and looking wrung out and listless. She couldn’t get comfortable.

Food, of course, was out of the question but liquids are always a must and therein lies the problem. Preschoolers can be fragile things when it comes to dehydration. Believe me I have had some bad experiences with that. You have to keep them hydrated, but with a stomach virus everything that goes in wants to come out. So there I am trying to get her to take small sips of water, flat soda, juice, tea, anything liquid and hoping that her stomach will be able to handle small doses. For the most part it did. She was miserable all day but she wasn’t throwing up.

“Uncle Tom” was home, which helped. She went from lying on the sofa and looking miserable to sitting on his lap and looking not quite as miserable, so that was an improvement. He looked a little miserable himself, knowing that stomach viruses are “catchy”, but she needed him so he was willing to take the risk. He did a lot of hand washing that day.

Kiley was not having a good time, obviously, but with her being sidelined Mackey was in her glory. She was running wild and in a real good mood. I kept looking for signs of sickness in her but she seemed fine. There were a few close calls when I caught Mackey trying to sneak a drink from Kiley’s cup but other than that she was great and spent most of the day entertaining herself.

By mid-afternoon Kiley perked up and seemed a lot better. Her stomach wasn’t hurting and she had more energy. She had been begging for milk all day because that is her favorite drink but I had been holding her off from that fearing it would not sit well with a bad tummy. The amount of other liquids she had consumed was miniscule and I was worrying about dehydration so, since she was feeling better, I figured I’d let her try a little milk just to get some liquid into her. Mistake!!!  About a half hour later her stomach ache came back with a vengeance. I was carrying her around the kitchen and trying to console her when I saw from her expression that the worst was about to happen. We made it to the sink just in time and she let go of most of the liquid I had so painstakingly gotten her to consume throughout the day. On top of that the violence of the eruption caused her to pee as well, all down the front of me and onto the floor. Well, at least I knew she wasn’t dehydrated yet. After I got everything cleaned up, she fell into a deep sleep on the sofa for a few hours. That was good for all of us.

She was sick for the next three days, though the first day was the worst day. She never ran more than a slight fever and though her painful stomach kept her liquid intake down she never became dehydrated. Freeze-Pops worked really good in that regard. She likes them. By Thursday she was her normal self and everything seemed to be getting back to normal until Thursday night.  After dinner on Thursday I started having the experience of feeling not all that well. Within a couple of hours I was full blown sick and stayed that way for the next three days. Kiley and Mackey had to be watched by their grandmother on Friday because I was totally out of commission. It wasn’t really until Sunday that I recovered and even then I felt weak and “off my feed”. I still feel a little out of it now as I am writing this.

Mackey and Uncle Tom dodged the bullet and never did get sick, at least not yet, and since a week has passed since Kiley came down with it they are probably out of the woods. Kiley’s mom and dad never got sick either, nor did her grandmother, just me. Maybe this particular virus is transmitted through urine and since I am the only one who was bathed with said pee, I was the only one infected. It’s a theory anyway. Looking on the bright side I lost five pounds this weekend, the hard way to be sure, but I’ll take it.  My youngest is getting married at the end of May and I have to squeeeeeeze into a tight dress for the occasion. In fact a couple of more days with my head in the toilet might not be so bad if I can shed another five. Dang, why didn’t I save some of that virus transmitting pee I mopped up off the kitchen floor?  Oh well, hindsight is always twenty- twenty.

Nan