Sunday, January 27, 2013Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2003. What I love about this photo was I caught Mattie in action. He loved running around our home in his "tot wheels" and that particular day Mattie spied a drawer where I keep silverware. So he walked himself over and literally started pulling at the drawer until it opened as he could explore the contents inside.
Quote of the day: People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences will have resonances with our own innermost being, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. ~ Joseph Campbell
It has been quite a wild 24 hours for us. At 1am this morning, Peter became very ill. It was non-stop vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and intense stomach pains. The amount of fluids he lost between 1am to 5am was overwhelming. He couldn't keep anything down. By 4am, I insisted he take zofran, which is a prescription anti-emetic. I use zofran to combat nausea from migraines, and based on my experiences with it, I know it works. It worked for Mattie temporarily too, until he needed a much stronger anti-emetic for his chemotherapy. Naturally the fear was Peter wouldn't hold down the zofran, but fortunately he did. Nonetheless, he is very weak and my fear is that he will get dehydrated.
This illness hit Peter very quickly and thankfully at the moment I am fine. If we were both hit with this, it would have been awful because Peter is totally out of commission and too weak to care for himself. I know there is an outbreak of Norovirus going around, but I had no idea it would hit our household this week. I went to the CDC website, and copied some information about Norovirus below. The way to avoid Norovirus is to constantly wash your hands. Which is ironic, since Peter is always washing his hands and practices excellent hygiene, another unfortunate skill learned from living 15 months in a PICU. I must say however that any kind of sickness within our home brings back bad memories for me. My natural instinct now is to panic and worry that an illness is more than just a virus. In Peter's case I am able to rationalize that this is indeed a virus and it will go away, but the impact of Mattie's battle remains alive and well within me always!
From the CDC.............................
Norovirus is a very contagious virus. You can get norovirus from an infected person, contaminated food or water, or by touching contaminated surfaces. The virus causes your stomach or intestines or both to get inflamed (acute gastroenteritis). This leads you to have stomach pain, nausea, and diarrhea and to throw up.
Anyone can be infected with norovirus and get sick. Also, you can have norovirus illness many times in your life. Norovirus illness can be serious, especially for young children and older adults.
Norovirus causes inflammation of the stomach or intestines or both. This is called acute gastroenteritis. The most common symptoms—
- diarrhea
- throwing up
- nausea
- stomach pain
- fever
- headache
- body aches
Symptoms of dehydration—
- decrease in urination
- dry mouth and throat
- feeling dizzy when standing up
Needless to say, I never left our home today. I am working on little to no sleep, and poor Peter can't get comfortable and rest. In the midst of this depressing day I had a visit from a beautiful cardinal. RARELY do we get cardinal sightings in DC. However the cardinal was one of Mattie's favorite birds. Most likely because it was his favorite color! Any case, when I saw this bird today, I thought I was having a Mattie visit. 
As my readers know, Patches is battling cancer. Yet despite her failing health she continues to live up to her well earned title, "Nurse Patches." Patches stays close when you are sick and never leaves you alone. She does this for both Peter and I. I learned this many, many years ago, and I can't tell you how special it is to have such a companion when you aren't feeling well! Today, Patches climbed into bed with Peter and remained by his legs for hours. 
Later in the day, Peter migrated down to our couch. Again, "Nurse Patches" was on the scene and even as I write this, both the nurse and the patient are lying side by side. 
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