The Po Show

Basketball and Vomit

I did not sleep much last night.

The UCLA-Cal game didn't start till after 10:30, so I knew we were going to be up late anyway. Actually, let me backtrack, all the way to yesterday morning and the events that would foreshadow the night to come.

Just before it was time to get dressed for school, Tessa went to take her temperature, which was normal. She said she didn't feel well. I said that she had felt fine just a few minutes ago, that she was fine last night, and that she had no fever. I gave my usual line, which is "If you really feel sick later, ask to go to the nurse and I will come pick you up." She went to school and I was able to run my 5000 errands (already this week I had had Matthew home sick and a snow day).

For dinner she had a hot dog and Goldfish. Later in the evening, she started to complain that her jaw hurt. I expressed my sympathy, as I rushed to prepare 67 ebay auctions. Around bedtime, she started to complain that her stomach hurt, so I gave her some Pepto-Bismol. She claimed that her stomach and jaw always hurt when she ate a hot dog, which was certainly news to me. She went to bed without event.

At 11:15, Tessa came out of her room, squinting against the light. She took a tissue from the desk and blew her nose, and said that her stomach still hurt. I went over to her and she was all sweaty and clammy. Ugh, I thought, this is not good. She still did not have a fever. She went back to bed. Since you've read the title of this post, you can guess what happened next.

Around 11:30, Ross and I retired to the bedroom to watch the rest of the game. About midnight, Tessa came into the room, covered in vomit. Her bed was an absolute disaster (considering what she ate, plus Pepto-Bismol). Ross stripped her bed and carried it all down to the basement to wash. I got her in clean jammies and put on fresh bedding. She went back to sleep.

We watched the rest of the game, went to sleep, and were awakened by Tessa coming into the room. She climbed onto the bed and promptly threw up again, less massively than on her bed, but still an impressive amount. Ross stripped our bed, went to take the bedding down to the basement (and put her stuff in the dryer), but realized he could not find the basement key (you'll recall that to get into our basement, you have to go OUTSIDE, walk across the patio, and go in through an external door). He was sure he'd put it back on its hook, but it wasn't there, and tearing the cabinet apart did nothing to turn it up. He got the spare key and finished up the laundry. I got Tessa in more clean jammies and put her on the couch while I put fresh bedding on our bed. She fell asleep on the couch. Finally, at like 4:00, we put her back in her bed and went back to bed ourselves. Ross had to get up in less than an hour for work.

I said that I felt really badly, that I'd made her go to school when she was obviously sick. It's so hard to know, but I really should not be dismissive of her, because she is not the kind to fake being sick in order not to have to go to school. This has just been such a terrible month, with so much sickness. I'd like to hibernate till cold and flu season is over.

Oh, but UCLA won their game handily, so there's that to sustain me.