The stomach bug

Trigger warning: vomiting

In the middle of December, my husband came home from work early saying he was exhausted from travelling. He’d gone to bed at 1am and got up at 5am to get a flight back from Ireland, then had to drive home from Heathrow. He went straight to bed.

Later in the day, he started to wonder if he was actually ill. In the evening, he discovered he was ill. He’d got a stomach bug.

In fact, it was textbook norovirus, although he wasn’t actually sick. Even thought it is sometimes called ‘the winter vomiting bug’, people aren’t always sick with norovirus.

As we weren’t with him when he contracted it and as he’d gone straight to bed when he’d got home (and I’d then slept in the spare room), I hoped the rest of it would be safe from it. We had good hygiene and although he didn’t isolate completely, we gave him a wide berth.

He seemed almost back to normal the next day, but he struggled to eat. The following day, he had to go for a two hour sleep in the afternoon. Even the day after that, he was struggling to eat.

He got ill on a Thursday. In the early hours of Monday I woke up at 2.55am feeling strange. It could have been just that I was tired and needed more sleep. Waking up stupidly early does make you feel sort of ill. At 3.45, I realised I was ill.

I have emetophobia – a phobia of vomiting. I am terrified of myself or anyone around me being sick. That’s been a hard thing about having a dog – sometimes she is sick. If my husband is around, I stay right away and he deals with it.

Possibly because of my phobia, I haven’t actually been sick since I was 12. I haven’t had a stomach bug in years, but I used to get them as a young adult and I was never sick.

Just before 6am, I had this horrible feeling I was going to be sick. But I really didn’t know, because I don’t remember what it’s like to properly feel sick, rather than just a bit nauseous. I woke my husband up because I was scared and he came to sit with me in the bathroom. I was sweating and shaking.

And then I was sick.

It was such a massive shock to me. I just sat there in disbelief. But I did feel a bit better.

By 6.30am, my stomach bug was done.

Except I was very tired.

With Christmas just around the corner, we couldn’t risk the bug going through the house one person at a time every four days. My daughter had already missed panto due to a nasty virus and my eldest was going on holiday on Boxing Day. So I decided to isolate in my bedroom to break the cycle. Having already had the bug, my husband could at least check on me and bring me things.

I alternately rested, slept and read my book all day. I had a bit of a temperature, but didn’t dare take paracetamol for fear of upsetting my stomach. My husband had the temperature too. Textbook norovirus.

I didn’t eat a thing. I wasn’t even slightly hungry. I sipped water very gradually. I probably only had 1.5 glasses all day.

That night, my sleep was very disturbed and I woke up drenched in sweat. Just like my husband had when he was ill.

The next day, I took bigger sips of water and maybe got through four glasses. I drank a little bottle of Lucozade too, which I was surprised to discover was fizzy! I really know nothing about being ill.

I wasn’t well enough to work, so I binged on The Confessions of Frannie Langton on ITV X. The rare occasions when I’m ill are the only time I get to binge on TV shows.

I managed two slices of toast during the day, then braved a bit of plain pasta with cheese for tea. It really unsettled my stomach, so I stopped eating it after a few mouthfuls.

That night I was in bed 11-7. Unfortunately, I was only asleep between 12 and 4.

I had the TV on very low to try to lull me back into sleep, but all that happened was I heard the same news reports over and over again.

The following day, I looked skeletal. I’d lost nearly half a stone. But I was well enough to work for a couple of hours.

I managed three pieces of toast, more water and two little bottles of Lucozade. My husband found sausage and chips from the chip shop had sorted him out, so I braved a portion of chips from the chip shop. They tasted nice and didn’t make my stomach any worse.

It’s always said that you should avoid people for 48 hours with norovirus to avoid passing it on. As it had taken so long to pass from my husband to me, I decided to isolate in my room for 72 hours, which was lonely and not a lot of fun. But I binged Our House on ITV X on day 3, which I’d wanted to watch for ages.

My stomach was aching again by the time I went to bed on day 3.

When I was younger and had a stomach bug, I would just avoid food for about six hours. Then I would move on to cracker biscuits and toast for a day, then back to normal the next day.

By this time it was 21st December. Would I even be eating normally for Christmas day?

On day 4, I couldn’t eat my yogurt for breakfast, but was surprised to find I did want chocolate later in the day. I ate much less than usual, but it was definitely getting more normal. On Christmas Eve, I was still drinking Lucozade and still relying heavily on pasta and cheese.

But I’m pleased to say I managed to eat normally on Christmas Day. And I didn’t pass the bug on.