When life explodes from one end to the other
Last Friday (the week before last) I was exhausted because I had been up all night with Esther as she battled through gastro. A home doctor visit at 3:45am ensured she was given something to stop her chucking up and gave me time to fall asleep on the mattress, which I had set up on the floor in her room when the vomiting started. At 5am she was wide awake and wanted to rest on the couch.
I headed back to my own bed. Hoping no one else in the family would get it.
Sunday rolled around and no one had got it. #dodgedabullet
But Monday morning, Phoebe woke up and had spewed in her cot and Maggie did a spew, but only out of sympathy.
Soon after I was sitting on the toilet and heaving into a bucket. Sadly I got hit the worst with it.
Whatever strain of gastro bug going around, it is hideous. I lost 3kg and it’s taken me all week to slowly get my bearings. I was constantly having dizzy spells and if I stood too quickly I felt like I would black out.
I had a good friend (who’s a GP) take my blood pressure when sitting down and standing up and it confirmed I was still quite dehydrated. I’ve been drinking hydralyte, coca-cola and berocca to get essential nutrients back into me. Unfortunately it means I have now only lost 2 kgs.
In amongst the chaos of gastro explosions, last week was a good week.
Phoebe had her first day at Daycare and LOVED it. Even the carers were surprised at how well she settled in on her first day.
Having one day at home by myself is going to be amazingly helpful in giving me time to get my paid work done. Unfortunately on Phoebe’s first day of care, I was getting over being sick. Not a lot of work happened that day, but what a blessing I could have a day at home to recoup and recover.
I’ve also had a good stream of emails for more paid writing work which is great. There have been draft posts that have had tight deadlines, which I was able to do this week, despite being sick. Ironically, deadlines in the writing world and plumbing world are identical. Everyone wants something done fairly quickly, and it can’t always be achievable. But last week I was able to though. Go me.
While I relaxed to get better, I spent a lot of time on my phone, scrolling through social media. And nearly every second or third post would be about Donald Trump. I think it’s a crazy state of affairs that he’s President. I hope he does bring good and govern wisely. But I’m not sure that’s what we’re seeing in these early days. It’s a little frightening.
Yet while it’s been a bit crazy in my own world and the world at a greater scale, life continues to go on.
This week I have been grateful for my health. Thankful for doctors who come and do home visits and a husband who has immunity as strong as an ox and was able to take over looking after the house and kids (when he could) so I could get better. How do single parents cope when they get hit with gastro? It was a thought I had while throwing up.
In other news, I was mighty impressed with three young guys from Lynx Couriers.
I dropped Jacob off to work on Thursday and a man was pushing (what I assume) was his female partner, yelling at her out the front of the Child Services building. While I got out of the car to swap to the driver’s side, I wasn’t sure whether to walk up and make sure the woman was ok. I looked behind me and a Lynx Couriers Delivery Truck had stopped and all three delivery guys went up to the domestic, asking if all was ok and wanting to diffuse the situation. I love seeing humans stand up for what is right.
Later that day when I picked Jacob up from work, he told me that the delivery truck hadn’t meant to stop at Jacob’s work and weren’t delivering anything to the office. They just saw the violence and drove into the carpark so they could help out.
It’s not always the case for some situations though. You have to put your own safety first depending on what is going on. Domestic violence in public is heart racing to watch and so eye-opening. If they don’t care about being violent in public, what happens when they’re at home?
Thank you for your kind comments on Facebook and Instagram about my health. Please ensure you don’t get it. Even if you want to lose the Christmas kilos. Gastro is not the way to do it.
Here’s to hoping we don’t get hit with any more nasty bugs this year.
