Very early in the morning of March 8th, Jen began to realize one of her greatest fears. A2 woke up and started calling for Jen saying that her stomach hurt. Sure enough, a short time later, A2 began throwing up. The throwing up continued throughout the day. There would be periods of inactivity during which hopes would be raised that the worst was over. This was always followed by another round of heaving. In the past with our kids, stomach viruses passed in the span of a half day or so. At least the throwing up portion of the virus. This time was different. A2 spent the night in our bedroom, which meant that Jen did not sleep.
Tuesday dawned and A2 was still not feeling well. She threw up a few more times during the day and we decided to call the doctor's office in the afternoon. They wanted to see her. After A1 got home from school, we headed to the doctor's office. A2 started out the trip very uncomfortable and we thought that she was going to get sick in the truck. Then she calmed down and took a nap. She woke up 25 minutes later when we arrived at the doctor's office and she was a new child. She was acting like she felt great. It was a night and day difference from the beginning of the drive. Just remarkable. The doctor told us that some viruses stick around for a few days and that she might have a relapse in the next day or two. That statement turned out to be prophetic. On Wednesdays my parents generously volunteer to come up to the house and watch A2. A2 was fine all day long and acting like her normal self. She took her usual nap. After waking up she was a little lethargic. She wanted to lay down on the couch and watch a movie. I obliged her. All of the sudden, relapse time. Suck. After getting her cleaned up, she was reborn. Thankfully, that was the last of it for A2 this time around.On Thursday, I was riding the zero tolerance unit with B. B was working overtime for another officer and my rookie was off. B likes to drive and I am getting used to being the passenger. Being the zero tolerance unit required us to patrol the high crime areas of the beat. This resulted in lots of starts and stops and turns. Bad news for me. I started feeling nauseous. So we took a little break and I started feeling better. That was the calm before the storm. I ended up getting sick a little later in a parking lot. It was one of those times when death seemed like the best option. I recovered enough to drive home. I slept and then felt good enough to attend a concert that night. I did not eat anything for 40 hours. The virus lingered and I did not feel completely back to normal until Monday.
Sunday evening, A1 came to us and said that his stomach hurt. Not good. We were not at home. We quickly headed home and a few hours later, it was confirmed. A1 had the virus. He slept in our room that night which meant no sleep for Jen again. A1 took Monday to recover and was back to normal by Tuesday morning.
During this week long ordeal, Jen was a trooper. She absolutely hates to throw up and has a major fear of contracting a stomach virus. Threw it all, she took fabulous care of us. While taking care of us, she also cleaned. Our home is usually clean, but this week, it was spotless. Lysol, Clorex wipes, disposable gloves, and baby wipes were a few of her tools of choice. How the virus survived in the house for a week is a mystery. Every surface was scrubbed with virus killing chemicals. She did everything possible to eradicate the virus from our house outside of burning it down. It was quite a showdown. The virus won a few battles, but Jen won the war.
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