The ups and downs of stomach flu

Time to get ill!!  This is just a small visual example of my life as of late. Everyone except Steven has been sick with the dreaded stomach flu the past 3 days. 

This weekend, I had a short bout of it. Next, Aeron got it Sunday morning, and Monday morning at 2 am I took him to the ER for help. He had the worst case of diarrhea I have ever see;  it was like water and I usually ended up covered in it as I tried to help him. We sat in the ER for five hours and they really did nothing for him. The doctor handed me a prescription for an antibiotic which you cannot use on the flu. The flu is generally caused by a virus, which is immune to antibiotics. Duh! Even I know that. I was most concerned about Aeron getting dehydrated. He wouldn't eat anything, drink anything, and he was so listless.

Monday morning Bekkah felt sick to her stomach. I let her stay home from school. The last thing we need to do is spread the joy! Monday evening the flu hit Peter. He had it coming out both ends - yuck! And, this morning, Ethan got a case of the heaves. But, glory be! he had common sense enough to make it to the toilet. Thank you, Lord!

As a result, I am inundated with laundry and dishes. We've all felt under the weather. And, my house looks like it threw up on itself as well! If this flu weren't so toxic, I would be tempted to ask for some help, but I am afraid we would spread our disease. 

So, we are riding this one out. Eventually, this awful flu will leave our house. Peter has already taken 2 days off; thankfully he's feeling well enough now that he is planning on going to work tomorrow.

Peter has been so stressed out this school year because he has so much to do and the needs of our family are so great that he rarely has much time to do his school work. Thus, a lot of things remain undone and we are having to accept that fact. I keep repeating the phrase, "This phase will not last forever." Never has my house been in such a sad state of affairs. Eventually, we will move through this stage. We will not have so many small children - they will grow up, Ethan, hopefully, will not need 24/7 care and we will not always be sick.

Thankfully, we are stocked up with everything we need. I just bought a case of toilet paper. We have a generous supply of both Sprite and Coke. We have crackers, jello, and everything you need for the BRAT diet. This flu kills all desire to eat. Everything feels so heavy in your stomach, you just push the food away.

Well, that's all for our sad family. I pray that by the end of the week we will be up and going again. I am trying to wash everything and air the house out during the day! This won't last forever, thank heavens.