Things I appreciate more after gastro

We haven’t been on a great health streak here at home. I actually started wondering at some point if our house was just a cesspool of bacteria, but reminded myself that my son has just recently started daycare. The sorts of germs and bugs he would be exposed to there and bring home is surely the cause of our health woes.

In the past few weeks we’ve had:

• Viral infection (Luca and Mario)
• Colds (all of us)
• Chest infection (me)
• Ear infection (me)
• Gastro (Mario and I, while dealing with both the chest and ear infection on my part mind you)

Right now Mario is still getting over what we thought was gastro, but seems to be a viral infection too, since it’s taken days for him to kick it where I was done after 24 hours.

Gastro kicked my ass

I was actually dehydrated to the point that I was hospitalised. After 3L of fluid was delivered via a drip overnight I returned home feeling much better. It still took another 24 hours before I was able to start eating properly. Luca came and stayed in the hospital with me and was so good. The nurses loved him! They had set me up with a cot for him (something out of a horror movie mind you) and when I put him in there so I could go to the toilet he looked like he was in a zoo cage!

It was the most brutal gastro I think I’ve ever had. It started on Monday afternoon; my stomach felt off and all of a sudden my energy dipped in a dramatic way. I rang Mario and asked him to come home from work, and within minutes of him arriving and taking Luca I was projectile vomiting into the toilet. I was throwing up every 20mins or so, and shortly after I started Mario started up as well.

We ended up having to call my sister in law to look after Luca, and eventually I went off to the hospital. We had called an ambulance since neither of us were in a state to drive, Luca was screaming and we didn’t know if anything was wrong with him. On top of that I didn’t want to confine my SIL in a car with us and run the risk of her copping it too. I started throwing up just after 1.30, and didn’t stop until after 7 (the ambulance officers gave me an anti-nausea tablet that was compatible with my antibiotics for the chest/ear infection and breastfeeding).

I was so relieved when it was over.

So, reflecting on that experience here’s a few things that I’m now extremely grateful for.

Things I’m grateful for after having gastro

• Solid poop – You don’t realise how good a normal poop is when you can’t have them. One of the nurses was telling me that another patient with gastro had described her poop as “a brown laser”. Best. Description. Ever.
• Multi-tasking – After years in the office and juggling a lot of things I knew I was pretty decent with multi-tasking. But it’s not until you’re simultaneously on the toilet with “brown lasers” and throwing up in a bucket that you appreciate your ability to coordinate two things at once. My bathroom remained tidy that day.
• Washing machines and dryers – Once I returned home I stripped all beds of their sheets to wash. Any blanket, bath mat, or towel that had been touched or was even just in the room where we were was ultimately sent through the wash. For a day I couldn’t see the floor of the laundry. But after nearly 2 full days of washing and drying I’m finally back on top of the washing pile. We’re in the middle of excavating and building a retaining wall so my outside line is unusable at the moment too.
• Ambulances and hospital staff – normally I wouldn’t have called an ambulance, but I was just that sick. It turns out it was the right call. The officers told me later they knew straight away they were taking me to the hospital. I could barely stand, my blood pressure was 90/60 when they checked it and I was suffering pretty bad dehydration. My baby was screaming. My husband could barely move. I made the call, judge me as you will. Everyone we dealt with was amazing. The medics, that treated us with care and humour to lighten the situation. The staff at the hospital that did their best to make me comfortable and help with my son. They were wonderful.
• Family – for my sister in law who dropped everything to come and help us out when she received a stressed phone call. My father who came to the hospital to try and hold Luca so I could receive treatment (as it was Luca didn’t want to be held by anyone but me, he could sense something was up), and for driving me home the following morning. I was so grateful for the support.

The list goes on, and on, and on. Glucose lollies, hydralite, comfortable beds etc etc.

I’m crossing all fingers and toes that we have a nice stretch of good health ahead of us now. I just feel like we need a little break.

I know I won’t take it for granted!