The Clark Family Summer Stomach Bug Fest!

For the 3rd summer in a row, our family has been struck with a norovirus, a nasty, highly infectious bug that causes vomiting, diarrhea, intestinal cramps and abject misery.

The first year this happened, the whole family was visiting Trevor in Portland. First Kayla went down, then me. I was sick in bed for days and in someone else's bed, to boot. (Interestingly, I haven't been invited back to Trevor's since....) Pam & Terry seemed to get a slight case as well. Our trip home was full of Immodium AD, bananas and lots of potty stops.

Last year, it started with Aeron. She barfed in the wee hours (why do they always get sick in the middle of the night?!), then a couple more times during the next day, and then she was fine. Could have been just one of those kid things, right? Our friend Brett was visiting that weekend, and, unknowingly, we sent him home to die alone. Poor man "groveled like an animal for 3 days, wishing for the sweet release of death". All 6 of us got the bug that time. Kayla did her best to stave it off, but succumbed on the first night of summer camp. Spent the night in the infirmary after horking up her toenails, poor thing.

This year, I was Patient Zero. I woke up at 1 in the morning with a feeling of small, rabid animals attempting to chew their way out of my vitals. I'll spare my readers the more gruesome details, but let's just say .... it was a rough night. By 5am, Miles was feeling ill. Yesterday, he and I spent the whole day in bed, doing Pepto Bismol shots, and moaning. No other victims, as of yet. Kayla fled to a friend's home for the night. Miles and I have mostly recovered, but we're still weak as kittens. I've spend what upright time I have today disinfecting everything; the whole house smells like lemon-scented bleach.

What causes this outbreak of pestilence every summer? Maybe the norovirus has a season, like bubonic plague. Perhaps this is a message to me to be more picky about disinfecting doorknobs. Have I offended the Flu Gods? What ever it is, I'm sorry already!