If I Have to Clean Up One More Pile Of Vomit...

I thought my family had been lucky enough to make it through the flu season, with only one bout of flu. Unfortunately, that bout had taken place on my birthday, where I rang in my new year with six hours of puking, but nonetheless, only one horrible bout was fine with me!

Alas, the weekend before last we decided to visit some friends we hadn't seen for some time. We drove to their house with thoughts of fun in the sun, a nice Spring BBQ, kids playing in the sprinkler... It all started off that way. I noticed once I got out the snacks, and my son denied them, something was up. I kept trying to tell myself, oh he must be full from all that juice, or, he's just having too much fun...Yah right, next thing I knew he's puking orange juice all over our friends clean kitchen floor. He had no fever, and was immediately insulted that I wanted to change his clothes (by the way, he's only 2), and off he went to play some more. After cleaning the floor, and trying to figure out how to bow out politely, our friends say, "Oh, he probably had too much juice.." Lately I have felt so deprived of adult contact (I'm a stay at home mom), I went along with that analysis, if only it could buy me another hour, another glass of wine...Which it did, until my son pulled an encore about 2 hours later. Luckily the evening was coming to a close. 

After getting the kids in the car, I told my husband how bad I felt that our son had puked at their home, and god forbid their children get sick. Or course he was quick to assure me that there was no way to know our son was ill and it was no one's fault. Then I began to think of our little family. Would my daughter get it? Would my husband get it? And good God, was I going to get it? The worst part of the flu is not knowing!

We didn't have to wait long, just as my son was feeling better on Monday, my daughter came home from school complaining of stomach pain. In the late afternoon she threw up, and that went on for about 6 hours. I have a pretty tough stomach, but the smell of puke (that much puke) is enough to make you want to vomit or run for the hills! Luckily the next day, or so I thought, my daughter was feeling better. As I was saying goodbye to the flu, he reared his ugly head again! In the form of my daughter, in my room, at 2am, puking some God awful, foul smelling, disgusting brown puke, on my bedroom floor, my blankets, my pillows, even on my favorite slippers. I wanted to cry. Nothing like cleaning up vomit fest 09 at 2am on a weekday! I was still up when my husband got home from his night shift at 4am.

So by Friday, my daughter was back in school, my son was seemingly fine, I thought, well that's got to be it right? WRONG! Saturday morning I hear my husband in the bathroom, with what sounds like a hose turned on in to the toilet. And instead of sympathy I thought, how the heck did he get the flu? He hasn't even been here He didn't have to clean up the puke from the floor, from the rugs, from the blankets, from the mouths, from the hair....Shouldn't that be me? As I counted my blessings, I stayed as far away from him as I could for the rest of the day.

How did I manage to avoid the flu do you ask? Here is what I did...

Wash, wash, wash your hands. If you can't remember if you washed them, then do it again!

Don't touch your face while tending to the ill.

Remove all signs of the puke immediately. Yes, that means getting out the sponges, the gloves and the resolve at 2am and scrubbing the carpet 3 times if necessary.

Wash any item that is washable, and that was touched or possibly touched by said puker. Clothes, yours, theirs and their doll if necessary, socks, shirts, blankets, pillow cases, towels, cups, bowls..

Use anti bacterial wipes in the bathrooms, especially around the toilet, the sink and the light switch. And make sure this is done in all bathrooms that were contaminated.

Clean any "tools" you may have used to clean with by either throwing them away (old towels), to using anti bacterial spray on them.

This is how I survived the Revenge of the Flu. Hopefully this will help you too.