Around 12a, on Sunday, January 15, I heard Damon get out of bed and start breathing heavily. Scared he was having a heart attack, I followed him. While it wasn’t a heart attack, Damon wasn’t well. He ran outside the RV and proceeded to throw up.
Once he was done and tried to drink something, we tried to go back to bed. An hour later, he was up again and running outside. This happened almost every hour. And every time he left, I was awake, worried about him.
By morning, we were both exhausted and Damon felt horrible. We made the decision for him to go to the hospital. I’d rather he get better, faster, then try to tough it out.
I spent the day worried out of my mind. On the bright side, the kids were ok. Mini-man watched Curious George, while I played with little-dude and waited for updates.
By early afternoon, we’d learned that he had food poisoning. He was able to get some medication and come back to us, but feeling really weak and fragile.
As we transitioned to evening, Damon told me that we were expecting 70 mph winds in a few hours. So while he watched little-dude, I ran around in the dark with a flashlight trying to collect our stuff and put it away.
Just as everyone was finally asleep and I could try to go to bed, the winds picked up and began to shake the whole RV. I remember my mom telling me once that a tornado sounds like a train coming. I could hear very similar sounds rushing all around us.
Needless to say, I couldn’t fall asleep. My mama-bear instincts kicked in and all I wanted to do was protect my family. I’d rather they be safe than get sleep. Besides, all the noise and rocking made me so nervous. It’s almost like your body knows that you’d wake up at any moment so it won’t let you go to sleep.
I’ve never been more grateful for stabilizers. I don’t think I could have handled this kind of weather in our old unit.
The wind finally subsided around 1a. At this point, I’d been up for more than 24 hours. Just as I was just about to fall asleep, mini-man woke up little-dude.
So instead of sleeping, Damon and I were trying to get the kids to go back to sleep. I finally got little-dude asleep around 2:30a and just collapsed. Unfortunately, an hour later, mini-man woke little-dude up again. I spent the rest of my night trying to keep little-dude asleep.
By morning, I was cold and cranky. It’s hard to stay positive and not feel resentful when you’ve had no sleep or help.
Our original plan was to leave our current campsite and head to our last stop in Texas. However, it would be insane to try to pack and travel after the day we had. Instead, we extended our stay and moved around our next stops.
This turned out to be a very wise decision because, somehow, the rest of us got sick.
It’s been a long few days – being sick with sick kids is no picnic. I can’t wait for all of us to get better. And I REALLY can’t wait to be able to eat again.
Heartswell Adventures 