A Tale of Two Illnesses

There was a time not too long ago when all I wanted was to stay in bed. All day. I spent my whole day planning on when I could crawl back into bed. Clearly this was a problem. I just hadn't realized how miserable I was feeling. It had come on slowly and before I knew it I was in the grip of Depression. Depression made me happy when I caught some bug the kids brought home from school. I finally had a legitimate excuse to stay in bed all day.

Panda Girl was running a fever on Tuesday and Wednesday. I have no idea what bug she had picked up. Her only symptoms were fatigue and fever. Thus, as illnesses go, this one was not so bad. Sweet Pea loves attention and since I was holding Panda Girl constantly, Sweet Pea was beside herself. She may as well have been jumping up and down screaming "LOOK AT ME!" all day. Then she started telling me that she, like Panda Girl, was sick. This is a classic Sweet Pea attention tactic. I firmly told her she was fine. She persisted. I put her in time out. Twice. She came over one more time to repeat her sickness mantra. As I was about to send her back to time out, it happened. Everything she had eaten all day (which was thankfully little) came back out. Fantastic, I had two sick kids and an out of town husband. Clearly this is every mother's dream. After another episode I started her on the Zofran the pediatrician had prescribed in February when she had the same kind of bug. It worked like magic. She was not sick again and the next day she mostly felt as good as new. She even asked to go to school (she loves school, but I told her she had to stay home that day).

Husband had been sweet and come home from his trip early. So I felt as if we had a bit of a safety net. Friday I had plans to shop with Mom and Sister. My Dad was going to watch the girls. It was a perfect plan. I was really excited. So, what happened? I got violently ill Thursday night. I stayed ill all day Friday. I missed the shopping trip. Husband had to stay home from work to care for the little ladies. At the end of her afternoon nap, Panda Girl woke up sick. We quickly gave her some of the Zofran and she was feeling fine within an hour or so. I, on the other hand, had no spare nausea meds laying around, so I suffered through.

I was so upset I had to stay home and stay in bed. Then I realized something. I must be feeling much better emotionally. I wanted out of bed. I hated being in bed. While I would have rather had something less disgusting to help me have my revelation, it was nice to experience it. Today I am more appreciative of my physical and emotional health. Thankfully by Sunday I was as good as new and I was able to go on my fun shopping trip, even if I went alone. It was great to be up and out of bed.