Falling apart here just a little

[misshollygolightly]

Update in Post #10

For the past 4 days, DS has been battling the awful sinus/stomach flu (complete with tons of drainage, loss of appetite, diarrhea, sleeplessness, and irritability) that's been making the rounds here. Then, two days ago, DH came down with it as well and spent 12 hours puking and drive heaving, followed by 24 hours passed out in bed unable to move. THEN, last night, after staying awake for nearly 48 hours straight trying to take care of everyone else (not to mention taking DS to the pediatrician where I nearly passed out while holding him during his bloodwork--the nurse couldn't find a vein, poor little guy!), I came down with it and spent all night shivering on the bathroom floor (and failing miserably to feed DS when he woke up hungry--shivers and nausea really interfere with your let-down!). Fortunately, I was able to cancel the class I teach this morning and DH was able to take DS to daycare, so I finally got to get some rest and wait for the achiness and chills to subside. Which was lovely, until we got the call at 1:30 from our DCP that her brother-in-law (who has a young family and has been battling cancer for a while) just passed away. Which is horribly sad news and makes me very sad for DCP and her family who were very close with him. But selfishly, I entered panic-mode when she said she'd have to be gone for one or two weeks! So now I have to arrange some alternative daycare for the next two weeks, take care of DS the rest of today in my sleep-deprived and weak state, and somehow SOMEHOW SOMEHOW try to find enough time, energy, and focus to finish my dissertation prospectus and first chapter in the next three weeks so I can defend them this semester. Oh yes, and teach, and catch up on all the vomit-stained laundry, and disinfect the bathroom... HELP!

[mommylamb]

Wow, if anyone ever had a right to bitch about something, that would be you. So sorry to hear that things are so tough. I hope you feel better soon, and sorry for your daycare provider's loss.

[Pennylane]

I totally feel for you! 3 out of the 5 members of my family are sick, laundry is piling up and there is no food in the house.

Hang in there!

Ann

[lizajane]

HEINOUS!!! i am so sorry!!!! can you call in the cavalry?? this is the kind of situation where we call my out of town in laws and yell HELP!!!!!!! they were here for nearly a week when i had to go to tons of appts when throwing up all day every day.

hope you find some relief!!!!!!

[MamaMolly]

Oh honey, huge huge hugs. ITA that now is the time to call in any and everyone you know for help. Family, friends, neighbors, ANYONE you can. Even if it is to do the laundry, you need to get some help. IME people are happy to help, especially if you give them specifics. I recently called in my mom and a couple of weeks later the in laws. They were all happy to help, even if it was to just clean the frickin- frackin oven, do laundry, some child care, etc. Not going to go into gory details, but I don't know how I'd have gotten through the last few weeks with out them.

Good luck and tons of sympathy. Oh, and lysol spray is your disinfecting friend. When desperate I just coat the bathroom in a fine mist, close the door and let it simmer a while.

[gatorsmom]

Good luck and tons of sympathy. Oh, and lysol spray is your disinfecting friend. When desperate I just coat the bathroom in a fine mist, close the door and let it simmer a while.

:yeahthat: I was just going to say, send a friend, neighbor, anyone to Walgreens to buy a can of lysol spray then coat the bathroom. It's quick and easy. Then call family to do your laundry and bring you meals. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Gosh, I'm soooo sorry you are going through this. Lots of sympathy for you here. And lots of p and pt coming your way.

[ThreeofUs]

O.M.G.

I have nothing to add but clucks of sympathy and hugs.

May all come better soon.

[MontrealMum]

Huge hugs :grouphug: That is a lot to be dealing with all at once.

I have no idea if this is a good suggestion given your situation or not, but are there a few students, or just one student, that you might trust to babysit to cover your sitter's time off? Someone that seems mature and responsible? Or even one of your fellow grad students that might like to make a few extra bucks? I only suggest it because I think that you live in an area w/o family, and I know how hard it is to find someone to pinch-hit in that situation.

[DrSally]

I feel for you! I don't know how I ever would've finished my PHD with a family to deal with. The trade off for me was starting a family later and prob having fewer kids than I would like. I salute you for trying to make it all work. I think it will get better once the illness are gone. Oh, and I would babysit for other grad students with families in a pinch. Maybe you can get some relief so you can go and work in peace?

ETA: Is there a grocery delivery service in your area, or even one of those dinner to go places where you make your own meals. They have ready made ones avail in the freezer. Anything to get you through your prospectus deadline.

[misshollygolightly]

You ladies are fabulous, just so you know! Phew. I think things are finally starting to look up a little. Everyone finally stopped vomiting and being feverish, though now I have some sinus thing and DS has a horrible racking cough (this is the nastiest, most persistent and versatile bug I've ever seen!). I Lysolled the bathroom--neat trick, btw--and enjoyed walking in there and taking out a little aggression by pointing the spray can at the offending toilet and shouting at it "I have a Lysol(license?) to kill!" It cracked me up, but that could also have just been the fumes or the sleep deprivation :ROTFLMAO: We don't have any relatives even remotely nearby, but I did enlist a friend to come babysit for me this Friday and hopefully some next week as well while I do a little studying at home and catch up on laundry, etc. She isn't available when I'm teaching my class, but fortunately DH can work from home during those times. Best of all, though, I've talked with my two dissertation directors and, thank God, they are understanding and have approved an extension, providing that my DGS also agrees to it. I'm somewhat frustrated as I really wanted this behind me and I already took off last semester entirely to take care of DS and recover from delivery, and I felt like I was just starting to make some progress on things, BUT honestly there's just no way I could tackle this all right now, what with all the setbacks. So the sun is peeking out finally, and in a sort of silver-lining type of way, I realized this morning that, thanks to the flu bug, I'm now back to pre-pregnancy weight ;) Thanks for the encouragement and helpful suggestions!

[DrSally]

Glad to hear it!! I was going to suggest pushing back the defense date. Glad to hear that's a possibility. In the scheme of things, one semester is not a big deal for the sake of your sanity.