I forgot how kids need to be reminded to vomit into a receptacle. I guess it's more natural to simply open your mouth and let it fall where it may. Our carpets have several new stains, some purple (grape flavored Motrin), some bright blue (Gatorade). I am definitely not a fan of wall to wall carpeting and landlord permitting, I would gladly tear out ours with my hands or even my teeth. They are an extreme embarrassment.
The point here is that Ethan was diagnosed, thanks to a traumatic nasal swab, with INFLUENZA. Yes, it's just the flu, which for strong, healthy adults might mean a couple days of fever, aches, runny nose and general misery. For kids however it's a lot worse and Ethan is still pretty much the same as he was Tuesday. I'm trying not to think about Drew getting it.
All of this fun was reminding me of a conversation with a co-worker several years ago when I worked at a group home. Part of our job was dealing with a variety of bodily fluids on a daily basis. In order to lighten the mood after one particularly nasty episode, my fellow caregiver began to list all of the synonyms she knew of, real or made up, for the act of vomiting. There were a lot. My favorite was "Yak".
- ljm
- ROCHESTER HILLS, MI, United States
- “These fragments I have shored against my ruins”
12 comments:
I don't know if it helps, but I went for the "barf on the towel approach." Still nasty, but a LOT easier to clean than carpet and it provides an easier target for the kids to hit than a bucket or toilet bowl. Sorry he ended up with the flu, we did manage to dodge that diagnosis so far this year, knock on wood. But I did not do the flu shots and now I wonder if I should have, there were about 3 kids at school on Friday.
We (the Randall children) used to play this game to pass time during long car rides. Perhaps the most amusing one was ralph, for obvious and disrespectful reasons.
-shannon
I'm assuming that the "hasten Jason" was short for
"Hasten, Jason, bring the basin,
Urp, Slop, bring the mop!" which was a catch phrase in our home when the vomit bug struck. Ugh.
We've had some pretty interesting times--one that I even escaped. Clyde and Kayla were still rooming together, sleeping in bunk beds in the days of yesteryear and I was gone. C. (on the top bunk) became ill in the night and yelled for sleeping K to get him a basin. Needless to say, sleeping K did not awaken soon enough and you can imagine the rest. Dear big sister Kendra got to do the honors of clean up. She used the vacuum cleaner!!! and middle brother C claimed it smelled like if for years!! Sweet! Not!!!
We've been praying for Ethan. . .
oh boy! hope he gets better soon...
Heidi--I hope you guys don't get it either, especially after your last bout with sickness.
Shannon- We also were very careful with the R word, while working at Rose Meadow, for the same reasons.
Hesper-
I'm glad you got the basin reference...Keith didn't know what I was talking about. I've never heard the last part about the mop though! Kendra's vacuum idea is pure genius!
ooh so sad:( hope you feel better soon little ethan.
p.s. do your mum a favor & grab a bucket:)
Once at Grandma's old house, when I was 5 or so, I woke up in the middle of the night, sat up, and hurled apple pie all over my sleeping bag. I believe that was the only time I couldn't make it to a proper receptacle.
You poor lambs! I have a lot of good up-chuck stories, but I can't seem to call any to mind just now. Good thing puz I'm feeling a bit queasy my ownself after reading of Hesper's vacuum and Pat's apple pie.
Waves of sympathy to thee and thine household.
I pulled a Clyde once myself!
(so my mother informs me). :O)
And once an undisclosed sibling of a very melancholic bent spent half the night in that lovely practice. He kept us involved by loudly moaning against his fate, "Whyyyyy, do I have to throw up?"
Um, yes. Praying for Ethan! And Drew! And their parents!
Maybe my mom was lying when she told us this story, but... The way she tells it, Kerri was sick years ago on a family trip. She was sitting in the passenger seat, and when she rolled down her window and threw up out of the moving vehicle, the vomit reentered the car through the back window and got all over Kevin, who was sitting behind her. Wish I could have seen that.
Pat, your mother was not lying. It's one of the high points of my childhood, actually. I can still hear Kevin's shrieks as he ran to dunk his head in Dublin Lake (which we happened to be driving past).
The vacuum cleaner was NOT pure genious! Every time I used it after that it smelled like that awful night. Oy vay.
And that little catch phrase was the first thing my mother uttered after we had the phone call telling us Sterling and Linda had another boy.
My favorite newly-learned phrase for the act is "chunder." A British friend used it once.
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