to have had a little weep over Cancellation Of Christmas?

[ZebraOwl]

My penpal from the States is visiting the UK this month & I invited her to stay Christmas Eve to Boxing Day. It has become apparent during the night that she has norovirus.

I am in all sorts of trouble if I get noro because of my particular brand of Broken. If my brother (with whom I share the house) gets it he's in serious trouble in terms of work. To say nothing of the practical issue of our only having one bathroom.

Even if we're lucky enough not to get it, our Christmas celebrations are scuppered. We are lucky in that we do not have a houseful of relations to be worrying about. But I can't go to Mass in case I'm incubating it & plans for visiting relations are similarly off.

It has really not been the best year & I am now faced with the epic EPIC guilt of wrecking Christmas for my brother as well as the problem of trying to look after my penpal whilst trying to ensure it doesn't spread. To further improve matters, my penpal seemingly has no idea that norovirus isn't just a standard bug but an evil supervillain germ that wreaks havoc. So I'll have to explain that all three of us are stuffed as far as Christmas plans go.

So yes. In the circs was it unreasonable to curl up in bed & have a quiet cry?

How do you know it's noro? Dd has been sick all night too so I'm gutted.

Well there's a chance it's not, but the symptoms all fit so...

Oh your poor DD & poor you, too. Really hope she's ok soon.

yes, cry. i'm sorry. that's very harsh.

Everyone is in a panic about noro-virus here but I read on the nhs website that although highly contagious it only lasts a couple if days. Maybe it's not such a big deal in the states?

I've just posted another thread, same situation here. I've been up with stomach cramps and the runs since 3am. We will have to cancel our plans over the next couple of days and try our best to contain it to just me. I have a 3.5 yo DD & 12 week old baby who I'm breastfeeding. I also feel like crying as our plans are now scuppered on top of me be unwell...

Oh and YANBU it's so disappointing.

YANBU I hate christmas this year. My 18 month old is in hospital with suspected epiletic seizures I had to go home as I started being sick (from something i think caught in hospital this week).it's the first time i've been apart from my little man and it's killing me. And my 4 year old started throwing up in the night

YANBU but although it is contagious you can take precautions. If you can't give her her own bathroom, give own hand towel, encourage her to use dettol down the loo once done (if she's up for it) and keep the windows open and aired etc. Adult or not emphasize how contagious it can be so she washes her hands regularly. Have christmas at home, if she has noro she'll probably just want to be in bed though.

She may have rotovirus, they're very very similar but it's like a milder (though can last longer) norovirus. They are less contagious.

It's shit and i feel for you OP, my partner has it to so we're unable to leave the house at all. He's back in bed now but we've been awake since 4 with him in so much pain (after the V&D).

Don't panic and get out the bleach! Ds1 had a horrible bug but only for 12 hours and noone else caught it.

Don't panic and get out the bleach! Ds1 had a horrible bug but only for 12 hours and noone else caught it.

I've been working in nursery all month with a few little darlings bringing it in. None of the staff caught it, and it didn't last very long, good hand washing (not anti bac hand gel) is key. I also had to clean up FIL who threw up everywhere 2 days ago, still seem to be fine. Don't let it ruin Xmas, it's a state of mind, and they'll be another!

Well dd is still asleep. Was last sick at 4.30 which woke baby so had her kicking me in the back till this morning.
I now have the dilemma of if she is better do we still go to dil and ds for lunch as planned. All my dc are going so it will mean me and dd staying here whilst they have lunch.
I'm not too bothered but its a shame.
I'm secretly hoping it wi get me out of Boxing Day at pils though.

Merci bien for the sympathy. Started going on separate towels, surface-cleaning & Extra Careful Handwashing as soon as it became clear this was Not A Migraine as she'd thought. Not sure my rubbish immune system will feel this sufficient, but I shall hope.

So sorry for the rest of you who've also had to hoist the metaphorical yellow jack above your abodes: hope all the ill people are better soon & no-one else succumbs.

ImAlpharius - that's utterly wretched. Hope you're able to get back to him soon & that his prognosis is good.

Norovirus doesn't seem to be such a big deal in the states. Hygiene should be common sense though.

It is so extraordinarily, well, virulent, that even the most stringent hygiene measures sometimes aren't enough to prevent its spread. In my case, as well as our only having one (tiny) bathroom, I had contact with my penpal when we thought it was a migraine.

My penfriend seems to have stopped being sick. Really hoping that'll last. Today was pretty rubbish, frankly. Not being able to go to Mass was really v upsetting: can manage belated!Christmas with family when Lurgy-Free, but sadly that's not an option for the church. (Maybe I should talk to my priest about setting up a Mass!cam to stream services over the Interwebs )

Still have The Guilt about ruining things for My Big Bother, with some extra guilt over how worried he is about me. He asked me earlier about the Magic Words that'll ensure medics immediately understand why I'm seeking treatment & that I'm not being a selfish germ-spreading dolt seeking a non-existent cure but An Emergency. Obviously he knows I'm broken, but we don't really talk about things like me being at risk of a serious GI bleed if I get D&V/that lack of regular meds for me means seizures (possibly to point of status epilepticus); reduction in asthma control (possibly to point of status asthmaticus); & my body going into withdrawal from the massive amount of oxycodone necessary for me to not be a crumpled ball of pure pain.

Having to explain just why this was such a huge deal was not joyous. Really not. Mnyang.

Still hoping like mad hygiene measures will be enough for us to avoid getting it.

Do very much hope everyone else whose Christmas has been scuppered by illness had as good a day as possible in the circs & that everyone is better soon.

Heartbeep just to let you know (in case you don't) that you can continue to bf with norovirus. I had it when Dd was 10 months old and I rang LLL for advice. They said to just keep on feeding her, that it would not get through to Dd via my milk and it didn't. I did lose a lot of my supply though, but persevered and in the end, it came back properly and I spent many more years bfing her.

Hope everyone is feeling better.

Good grief, that is so utterly crap [:(
Poor broken you :(:(:(
I so hope it doesn't get you.
Sending huge immune-boosting (((((((((HUGS)))))))))).

Thank you... Penpal seems to be over the worst of it & is now mostly into the All The Sleeping All The Time phase, waking up for 15 minutes or so at a time every few hours. She feels horribly guilty about the whole thing, with a side of terror about chances of our getting it

At this point I am cautiously optimistic that we'll manage to avoid getting it. We're keeping up all our anti-Lurgy measures despite fact Penfriend seems much better & we're not going to risk going out yet Just In Case. Latter particularly hard on my brother who is used to going for a Lengthy Stomp at some point during the day, to say nothing of upset to his specific plans for socialising.

Do hope everyone else's households are doing okay.

OP - what is "my particular brand of Broken" ?

berry I wondered that too

I think she's probably prefer to keep it vague, or she'd probably have said in her OP.

^ mega overuse of "probably"

Er, yes, didn't specially want to get into The Broken (not least because it is a Very Long Story Indeed) it's a mix of things that mean quite comprehensive health problems ranging from joint problems to fragile blood vessels, vision problems, seizures, internal organs that do not play nicely, anaphylaxis, exceptionally poor wound healing... very few bits of me behave as they should, basically. (But hurrah for being fully continent & my kidneys in fact working BETTER than the normal range. Well, they have done in the past & so they might get there again & they are still functioning well now so...)

Penpal well enough to go back to where she's been staying today, which means my brother & I can start a germ-busting deep-clean. Although my brother was sick himself this morning We're hoping against hope that it's NOT The Lurgy, though, because he's not feeling so bad in himself for all he was horribly sick. Going to be careful still Just In Case. Which means that my parental unit has just come by to take my repeat prescription request up to the GP surgery for me & I have rung ATOS to ask them to rearrange my visit from one of their doctors. (That was a delight all on its own. Honestly, who SAYS to the person who's not only Broken but so Broken they get a home visit rather than having to schlep out to a centre "oh that's a lot of hospital appointments!" They only let you reschedule a home visit once (which heaps of people must have to because they just send you out a date without asking if you have to be being somewhere else at any point) so I asked if I could give her dates of hospital appointments to avoid clashes. It's only half a dozen or so in the first half of January, but she came out with that & then almost dropped the phone when I said that as soon as I got the date I'd make sure I avoided clashing with other appointments: "you mean there might be more!?" Er, yes, yes there might. With the bit where I see something stupid like 18 specialists. Rawrgh.

Realised I've not actually opened any of my presents, so I might do that later on...

Keeping fingers crossed for you.

With that fairly comprehensive list of symptoms you've given me a fairly good idea of your brand of Broken. I was a nurse a million years ago and am in a different health field now.
Good luck the next few days!