SYKE

Public Service Announcement: Before you continue on, I think it is my responsibility to inform you that some of, well Most of, the post is graphic and does contain cartoons to display visual humor of our last 5 days. If you have a sensitive personality, just skip over this post.

Rot – nope but smells similar!

Rotary – nope but will make your stomach turn!

Roto Rooter – nope but it will clean out your plumping!

Rotavirus – Ding Ding Ding we have a winner! Or do we?

Since our first field trip Friday night to the local ER, with Gage, we have been told our little PoO covered child has the Rotavirus. For those who do not know it is a nasty little bug that causes massive diarrhea, vomiting that last 7-10 days, is transmitted through feces, very contagious for 3 weeks, stays on surfaces for 10 hours, and cannot be killed with normal soap and water. If you happen to be a visual learner, imagine a bug like the one below, attacking a 4 month old sweet, innocent, under developed, overly sensitive, intestinal tract.

Since Friday we have been up to our necks in poO and vomit and I do mean US. We are talking 18 nasty diapers a day with complete blowouts 90% of the time (if you do not know what a blow-out is, then

A: you don’t have children

B: you have children and need to pick up a lottery ticket because you are a walking rabbits foot

C: you have children but have suppressed the blowout memory because of the vivid nightmares.

Again for the visual learner, a blowout is when:

This guy

Vs: this guy
= THIS (NO! not a delicious fudge treat!), but imagine the diaper is the icecream and the fudge is well, the foul fudge.)

Our (insert diaper brand) has nothing on that bug, I don’t care what their slogan says about controlling leaks!

Then the more important issue, the amount of liquid that goes in must be equal or greater than the quantity that comes out or you have BIG problems! Trying to keep little man hydrated has been a major challenge, he is having so much gas and stomach cramps, he does not want to eat. For the first 3-4 days he was only consuming 20-24 oz of pedialyte a day and that was making him drink it. Now he is a bit better with the diapers, down to 4 blowouts a day but still is having the stomach pain and refusing formula. For the last two days he has been on a pedialyte mixed with rice cereal for the calories. He cannot survive on this combination, it is not fruitful in the nutrition department and he is losing weight.

After the ER field trip we took one to his pediatricians’ office where there we were instructed to get a stool sample for cultures. First was a immediate test for blood because while at the Dr’s Gage decided to give me a heart attack and produce RED stool. The test was negative for blood but the mystery was solved when the doc and I looked at his cherry pedialyte he was consuming, Darn Red dyes.

Public Service Announcement: If your child is really sick, DO NOT give them red colored anything because it does look suspiciously like blood and will take years off your life with worry. Purple color is good, it changes to neon green after um consumption and elimination , oh sorry that maybe TMI or maybe you will want to know what Orange does, if so stayed tuned for the turnout.

Sorry I have digressed a bit, I am beyond exhausted at this point for it has been a long tiresome week.

Ok back to my point…..the “SYKE” part comes in at the points in which the ER Dr’s and the lab results this morning differ. You see, we have been under the guidance of our physicians regarding the big ugly Rotavirus to only get a call from the lab today stating that our beloved child Does Not have that said virus and they do not know what bug he has gotten his intestines on. You see, that is where the “SYKE” comes in. Dr states “Gage has the Rotavirus”, calls 5 days later to say “just kidding” or the hip way “SYKE”. GrrRrRrrrrrrr


However, they will be growing the mystery bug in these kind of dishes over the weekend
And hoping they can give us better answers on Monday. Bug names such as E coli and salmonella have been tossed around. I am hoping whatever viral/bacterial critter it is that it looks like this by Monday.

On a serious note: Please pray for Gage, that he gets through this with no more hospital/doctor visits, he can eat again soon, and most of all that his pain and discomfort subsides. (Even if you would like to say a prayer that Gage’s pain be taken away and given to me and even multiplied 5 times in intensity for its duration, that would be more than OK, and I will not lie, I have prayed that a few times myself).

Public Service Announcement: No animals were killed or injured in the making of this product um I mean Post.