Sally with Mr. IV Backpack in tow.

Hi all – I’m sorry for the title, I always try to pick 1-2 words that summarize the post and nothing else made sense for this one. Last night I was heading to bed after spending a couple hours with a smiling and very playful Sally, who also wanted to stay up til 10pm. I was shutting off the lights and noticed something out of the corner of my eye and saw a crying William walking towards me. I knew right then and there we were in trouble. Shortly after, William was laying with me in bed after throwing up, and proceeded to throw up every hour throughout most of the night.

I stayed home again today as Nicole still wasn’t feeling well, and went out to do our six loads of laundry, two of which were thrown up on clothes, towels and linens  It’s a good thing, because Thomas got home from karate and threw up, then just threw up twice in our bed…more laundry to do and am sure more will come tonight. That completes the circle of all of us getting the stomach bug. William didn’t throw up again today, so hopefully Thomas’ won’t feel at his worst for too long.

The sick brothers with yellow bucket it tow.

Because Nicole and William didn’t feel well, we didn’t bring Sally into MSK today as planned. The good news is Sally has been very perky and playful. The bad news is Sally still isn’t keeping down food. For example, she was tired so Nicole was putting her down just before. She put just a little bit of food in Sally’s feeding tube and within minutes she threw it up. Instead of being upset, she had a burst of energy and is now happily playing on the floor.

I just took this, Sally in her post vomit high.

Although its good to see her happy, it concerns us that without the IV fluids she’d be dehydrated and we’d be in the hospital. She’s also not getting calories so know she’ll begin to drop weight, and giving medicine has been a challenge. Nicole is scheduled to bring her in tomorrow and instead of losing the IV Backpack like we hoped, will likely need to refill it and continue using until she can hold down food again.

Of course like the rest of our week so far, nothing can be easy. NYC is scheduled to get yet another snow and ice storm tonight into tomorrow morning making getting to MSK difficult. William’s school and others in the city have already closed. We’re tapping into friends and family to help out as we’ve got one sick kid and one somewhat healthy kid who will be home as well. I’ve been home the last two days so hope to head into work as I have to maintain a healthy family/work balance, always a challenge.

So channel some positive thoughts that Sally can start holding down food, that the kids feel better and we can safely get to/from the hospital tomorrow. The bright side as one friend said this evening is that at least we’re at the tail end of the stomach flu. Please keep Sally in your thoughts and prayers.

Matt