Not long ago the Youngest Island Boy started complaining of
a stomach ache. About an hour later he started throwing up. Diarrhea came next
and the poor kid was miserable.
He said he’d never had a stomach ache that bad before.
I figured it was a stomach bug of some kind and that in
about 24 hours he’d be fine.
I kept him hydrated and he slept a lot between mad dashes to
the bathroom.
Late the next afternoon he felt better but that night the
Oldest Island Boy came down with the same thing, but his was a little worse.
Again, I figured stomach bug and wasn’t surprised since they
share a room.
Less than 12 hours later the Island Girl was laying on the
bathroom floor crying and convinced she was going to die.
Things were not looking good.
The Island King and I went to bed and woke up about 4 hours
later, both of us sick as dogs.
The only time I’ve ever had stomach cramps that bad was when
I was in labor with my kids.
And if the stomach pain isn’t enough to do you in, the
violent vomiting and diarrhea will.
This was no ordinary “stomach bug” and after a little
research I determined we’d been infected with the Norovirus - the mother of all
stomach bugs.
I went to the CDC website and was horrified to learn that
Norovirus can live outside of the body for 7 to 14 days and is HIGHLY
contagious.
Meaning once it goes through your family it can start all
over again and can go on for weeks.
Because the virus can live for so long outside of the body I
knew it was everywhere in our home.
And, according the CDC, there are only two things that will
kill it.
Bleach and Lysol.
You can easily reinfect yourself while cleaning so the
Island King and I suited up in latex gloves, face masks and eye protection and
proceeded to scrub every inch of our house.
Walls, doors, shower curtains, and every other surface in
our home got scrubbed with bleach AND Lysol.
It was a major pain but the knowledge that we could easily
get it again pushed us over the edge and we worked non-stop to decontaminate the
house.
I’ve had gastroenteritis before and this was nothing like
that. Words just can’t describe how horrible this virus is.
The scariest thing is that people don’t realize that most
cleaning products don’t even phase Norovirus.
You can do a good deep cleaning with your normal cleaning
products but unless you use a strong concentration of bleach the Norovirus is
still there, waiting.
We made a short video on how to decontaminate your home
after this plague invades and if you even think you may have it I suggest
following the CDC protocol and getting it out of your home as fast as possible.
Trust me when I tell you this is no ordinary bug.
Wash your hands compulsively, stay away from sick people and
break out the bleach.
For more information visit the CDC’s website and learn what
you can. Norovirus is not something to take lightly and once you’ve had it you
will never forget it.