Gastro

Day 197: Struggles of a different kind in my household over the weekend (and a Bank Holiday weekend at that!) – We’ve had a visitor: Gastroenteritis!

My two year old daughter started throwing up on Thursday night and by Friday it was pretty much none stop out of both ends. She’s avoided sickness up to now so it was the first time we’ve seen her projectile vomiting. The sickness carried on until Sunday afternoon so it was a tough one for the little lass!

I have had numerous stomach related bugs and upsets over the years so it was no surprise that by Saturday night I was sweating, vomiting and giving my poor arse a battering (sorry guys!). We all know us blokes are the worst patients so I must take my hat off to the wife who rallied round to keep herself, our oldest daughter and the house clean, disinfected and with plenty fluids and empty buckets.

Today is Wednesday. I’m still not 100% but the sickness stopped a few days back. I’m still spending most of my waking day (and a lot of the night) sat in the bathroom but I’d reluctantly take that over vomiting. More importantly my youngest daughter is pretty much over it and should be good for her first day back at nursery tomorrow. That will be an experience of a different kind! I do regret not investing in some biodegradable wet wipes for flushing though. When you know you know. I wish I didn’t buy cheap toilet roll now!

It’s the first time I’ve had such a bad virus since I gave up alcohol and started taking care of myself more. One of the bonuses of being sober is of course the hangover free life and I certainly don’t miss spewing up too many beers (it was never the quantity though, it was always because one of the pints was “off”). I don’t miss the room spinning when you stumble into bed after a skinful. That moment of realisation the drink ain’t finished with you yet! Being sick wasn’t a regular thing with me but I’d defo spew at least a few times each year off the boozing.

So naturally it did remind me about some of the states I ended up in and the abuse I put my body through. The fact it took days to pull myself round after a night out or a day drinking session showed that beer isn’t really your mate. The depression and anxiety that would always follow was lethal. I’ve felt rubbish since Saturday, haven’t exercised, haven’t been outside and haven’t been able to be my usual busy Daddy-self but the fact this was a virus and thankfully a standalone bout of sickness means the depression has not followed. I can’t and won’t blame myself for the mess I’ve been. It wasn’t self-inflicted this time, it was those bloody minions that live with us and bring the bugs home!

Anyways, enough about my weekend. I hope yours was more enjoyable!

On a different note I did see a beautiful quote today from the wonderful illustrator Charlie Mackesy. His book ‘The Boy, the mole, the fox and the horse’ is a great collection of art and quotes. My wife bought me a copy when I first came out of hospital and it has been a great book to keep on my bedside and dip in and out of. I’ve since bought a copy for my Mam and will no doubt gift copies to others in the future. Check him out on Twitter if you aren’t familiar with Charlie. He posts some of his stuff on there that goes beyond the book. So back to the quote in question. Here it is…

It made me smile. It sums up my own journey in 2021 and I must give myself more credit than I do. We are so bad at giving ourselves praise and bugging ourselves up. So yes, I had a moment of reflection where I told myself I’m doing great and I should be proud of myself. I hope everybody reading this can do the same. You deserve it.