Friday, March 6, 2009

'Tis the Season...


....for stomach flu. And for some reason, I think the flu shot that I get faithfully every fall doesn't apply. And if you have small children in the house forget about it. My younger daughter, Olivia, came down with a cold, not last weekend but the weekend before. Trooper that she is, she went about her days doing what she normally does, with a roll of TP in tow for her incessantly running nose. She seemed fine, otherwise. Three days later, it hit me. It was bad enough that I had to close the store for half a day last Friday. By Monday, all was well. Or so I thought. In the middle of that night (now Tuesday, 3 am) Olivia woke up screaming and crying, having vomited all over her bed. Enter, stomach flu. She stayed at home that day, as did I with her. I called the advice nurse at her doctor's... not knowing exactly how to treat Olivia, because she's never been ill with anything the vomiting was the only symptom... no fever, no cough. She told me, "Oh yes, we are seeing a lot of this - it's definitely going around." And then, "there's nothing you can really do but let it run it's course." "Have her drink small amounts of clear liquids, stay away from milk products, if she's hungry, let her have crackers, chicken soup, etc." Ok, I said, ready to hang up, just before she added, "Be careful, it's terribly contagious."

Great.

So with that I went back to work on Wednesday, feeling fine and that I had escaped it. But alas, Wednesday night I found myself in the same position or positions, if you will, as my daughter was 2 days before me. I was panicked about it as well as, being diabetic, my immune system is already compromised. And when I get any illness involving regurgitation, I inevitably end up in the hospital.

This time, I am happy to report, that I seemed to have avoided it, the hospital that is, and will hopefully be back to work tomorrow, Saturday. I just wanted to let our customers know what was happening so they would understand why the store was seemingly open one day, and then not the next. I do have some help at the store, but unfortunately, the wonderful Emmanuelle has sick children of her own to contend with. As I said, 'Tis the season!

But we do sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to our customers, and greatly appreciate their patronage!

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