Tuesday, November 20, 2012

My family got hit with a violent stomach bug and I'm feeling...grateful?

Oy vey.
It has been a tough 48 hours.

When I turned my phone back on after my show on Saturday night, I was dismayed to see a message from Andrew that Lilah had gotten sick.  It was her first experience with vomiting and she did not handle it well.  I slept with her and held her over a dozen times throughout the night as she heaved, choked, screamed, writhed and then passed back out until the next round.  She has bounced back relatively well and we are focusing on rehydration and getting her guts back to normal.  (this has been a new parenting milestone for us too...yuck.)

We thought we were "out of the woods" yesterday.  Well, other than me feeling guilty for probably having accidentally food-poisoned us.

And then it hit Sadie.  And it hit her hard.  Last night was a long one.  She was sick for almost 8 full hours.  At midnight when all of our efforts to stop the vomiting were failing, we called the advice nurse and after 20 minutes of answering questions and only minimal manipulation on my part, he prescribed an anti-nausea medication for her.  As I pulled out of the driveway at 1:00 AM, I was pretty sure that it was probably going to be too late to do any good, but as my friend who recommended it said, "if it cuts her misery for even an hour, it is more than worth it."  Sure enough, she had just gotten sick again as I walked in the door with it, so we gave it to her straight away.  When she vomited again 25 minutes later, I felt truly desperate.  How was she not keeping down a Rx strength medication that is used for cancer patients suffering the nauseating effects of chemo?!?!

I may live to regret it, but I basically gave updates on my Facebook page of what was happening - mostly for moral support.  At 2 AM I lamented publicly:

okay she just threw up 25 minutes after taking a dissolve tablet of prescribed anti nausea medication! I am OVER this. we are at 8 hours of vomiting. I'm sleeping on the floor by her bed. God, Goddesses, Universe, guardian angels, Saints: MAKE IT STOP. SHE IS DESTROYED.

A tad dramatic, but I give myself a pass, considering the circumstances.  Of course that brought a whole slew of "take her to the ER for IV hydration!" suggestions from concerned family and friends.

I was glad to be able to report within just a few more hours that she had turned the corner and is slowly but surely on the mend.  She, Andrew and Lilah have all had long naps today.

Meanwhile, I got some much needed quiet time to clean up, finish the laundry and think about what we just went through as a family.  You always hear about the whole "staying up all night with a sick child" thing, but this was really our first time.  Well, except for Sadie's ER visit almost 3 years ago, which was almost certainly food poisoning from a diner, but somehow the doctors thought it was much more serious.  (thankfully it wasn't)

Anyway, in the spirit of "mind over matter" and "onward and upward" and "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", it didn't take me long to come up with many reasons to be grateful despite thiese dreadful couple of nights.

We were all together.  I have a supportive, amazing husband who literally got puked on while I was off at a performance, doing what I love.  I have strong, brave, (usually) healthy children who can understand what is going on and trust us to take care of them during such a scary, miserable situation.  I had family and friends near and far who were ready and willing to help in any way they could.  And as cliche as it may sound, Andrew reminded me that it could have been so much worse.

So true. 

A quick inventory of what some friends that I know are going through right now yielded a sobering list of things that I am grateful that we aren't currently dealing with.  For example,

I am not facing a first holiday season after losing my young, vibrant sister to brain cancer or my beloved father to a heart attack.
I am not about to pass the anniversary of a family member's tragic death due to complications of alcohol addiction.
I am not navigating custody battles over who-gets-the-kids-for-which-holiday.
I am not scheduling ovary removal surgery and a mentally gearing up for a clinical drug trial for Stage IV breast cancer.

Then there's the global perspective:

I am not in a refugee camp in civil war torn Syria.
I am not fleeing bombings in Palestine or Israel.
I am not reeling from my home being demolished by hurricane Sandy a few weeks ago.
(tip of the iceberg here, but I am sure you get the point.)

Anyway, as we slowly get back to feeling normal, am going to keep focusing on feeling grateful.

It is Thanksgiving in two days, after all.

To your health.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

reNEWed!

New theatrical headshot:


 New fairy doll:

 

New loss:

New favorite photo of Andrew and Lilah:



New friends:



 

New memories:







 Capitola Beach 11/6/12

New sister sweetness:

New hope in our progress as a nation:
 
 
New term.