Rebecca and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

Well, well, well. Where to start? First off, we had a fun weekend trip to visit our friends the Nations in Ridgecrest, where we used to live. However, when we came home Sunday night, little did we know we brought a stowaway with us -- the stomach flu! The very, absolutely worst stomach flu virus that exists on the face of this earth. Luckily we did not start getting sick until Monday evening. Here's the story, condensed but fairly detailed, if you have a sensitive stomach stop right here because it's pretty bad.

Monday evening, 6:15: Hannah gets out of bed feeling sick, throw up her toenails (and her entire huge dinner) while sitting on the potty "throwing up" out the other end as well. Daddy has run off to the store for Gatorade and saltines, so I have to hold the barf bowl for Hannah, while throwing up into my own barf bowl and getting splashed by Hannah's explosions.

6:30: Hannah gets bedded down on the couch, goes to sleep -- I take a turn on the procelain throne and throws up some more.

6:45-9:45 pm: Hannah occasionally wakes up and throws up, assisted by Daddy, becauseI have been throwing up (out both ends) nonstop this whole time. I think the final count for throwing up alone was 10 times during these three hours. The progression of vomiting was interesting: first came the food, second came the bile (which really burns coming out your nose, by the way), third came the slime that coats your stomach underneath all the bile. I didn't until now know that it was possible to run out of bile. Our friend came over to assist Seth in giving much-needed blessings, which was greatly appreciated.

10:15: Friends come back over to take care of sick Hannah because by this time I am so dehydrated I am headed to the hospital for an IV on doctor's orders. Thankfully we were the ONLY ones in the ER! Amazing. I was almost ready to pass out and my heart rate was 120. My throat was so burned and hoarse I could hardly talk. They plugged me in and pumped me full of Zofran, the nausea drug they give to chemo patients, and then two full bags of fluid, which hydrated me enough to send me home around 3 a.m., even though I was still feeling extremely ill. The doctor was impressed that the virus was strong enough to fight through the chemo drugs.

4 a.m.: We finally arrive home. On the way in, I throw up half the fluid I had just received, right there in the parking lot. People probably thought I was drunk. Both children are now awake and have been throwing up all night long. (These poor friends of ours. I don't know what we would have done without them!)

Tue morning - present: I have been taking Zofran every 8 hours and am afraid to stop!

Wed afternoon: Seth joins in. In the 6 1/2 yearsa we have been married, this is the first time he has ever thrown up. He sounds like a humongous wildcat coughing up a hairball. Scares the kids.

Anyway. We are slowly getting better, we feel better for the most part, but some symptoms have just been lingering and I just hope they go away someday. I don't ever, ever want to go through it again. I seriously wanted to die when I was sick Monday night. I could never have even imagine that life could be so incredibly terrible.

How was YOUR week?