Sunday, June 18, 2006

Sickbay Update

Shea just had the worst 48 hours of his life. He was (still is, actually) covered from head to toe in ugly red blisters, and they are so itchy!! We put Calamine lotion on him, but the only effect that had was to make him scream when we put it on, it didn’t stop the itching. A warm bath with a few teaspoons of bread soda seemed to be the only thing to provide temporary relief. We tried everything to distract him, like watching DVDs, playing games and reading books, but it’s difficult to read a book to a 5-year old when he’s sitting beside you writhing in agony. Finally, he seemed to get better yesterday, and finally managed a few hours of sleep during the day. Niamh gave him some medicine at bedtime, which made him so drowsy that he slept for 12 hours, despite having slept several hours during the day (he did have some catching up to do). Unfortunately the same medicine made Cian throw up at midnight, and we once again had to clean the bed and the boy in the middle of the night.

To add to the stress, I had to drive to Shannon airport to collect my mum and my step-dad, which is a 2 hours drive each way. Long hours in the car always have a bad effect on my legs, and during the first three miles today they felt really stiff and unwilling to move. They got somewhat more responsive when I started doing some strides, and by the end I felt good again. Unfortunately the nice weather has gone just as my mum arrived. I hope the rain won’t last, or they will be confined to the house with two still sick boys for the week.

Watching the world cup is a bit weird this time, because I have no team to cheer on. Neither the country of birth (Austria) nor my adopted home (Ireland) have managed to qualify. Supporting the country where I spent 10 years of my life (England) is utterly out of the question, leaving my grandma’s country (Czech Republic), to which I have no emotional ties whatsoever. Which means I can just watch the games without worrying about my team, and just cheer on whoever is playing attractive football. Argentina are by far the best team so far, but a World Cup is not always won by the team that plays at their best at the start of the tournament.

18 Jun: 7 miles, 58:35, 8:22 pace (with 10x100 strides)

10 comments:

  1. Thomas - Glad to see you are still able to get some runs in whilst caring for the boys. Hope they are feeling better very soon.

    Know what you mean about the World Cup and not having anyone to cheer. I am working on the theory that I will support the Liverpool players in their respective teams, even the English ones, especially Spain, and tonight I will cheer the Aussies on against Brazil, although I won't be expecting miracles :).

    Great fighting performance from the US last night, fingers crossed thay can get through, but again not too confident. Only three weeks left :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Out of interest, what pace do you do your strides? (I'm looking ahead to starting my next training block) Is it a 3/4-ish effort, or easier or harder?

    Spain are my tip for the World Cup. But then they have been my tip for the last few tournaments. Too much watching La Liga on SkySports I guess....

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hope the children end with this soon. Mine had the vaccine and haven't catch it, now I say fortunately.

    Better to watch the world cup like that... Very dissapointed when Mexico coudn't even score one goal :O

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't know how you guys surviving...kudos and respect!
    Wow, you're multi-heritaged (is there a word like this?).

    ReplyDelete
  5. poor babies, poor parents!

    how neat that you are so global. (doesn't sound right, but I'm hoping you know what I mean)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I didn't know you weren't Irish! you should tell your life story in your blog some time (how did you meet your wife? why living in england all those years? etc).
    I met my husband in Vienna :)

    I suffer indifference too, when it comes to the world cup. Now, if Scotland could just qualify one year....
    HAHAHAHA.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I hope you survive your children's sickness - I know that's tough.

    I didn't know you weren't Irish, but that help's explain why you ran the 3-country marathon.

    I am usually picked on at work when the US loses (again) - after the other night no one said a word about the US and Italy game - I wonder why ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey Thomas, hang in there with the kids, it seems I read not long ago that you did NOT have the chicken pox yet.... Hopefully you have!

    World Cup does NOT appear to be in any danger of US domination, (Laughing)

    Keep it up!
    Curtai

    ReplyDelete
  9. So sorry to hear about the little ones being sick, that's always hard.

    Hope the weather lets up too, especially for the guests.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yikes. Hope those kiddos get well soon, and everyone else stays healthy.

    I agree, Argentina looks awesome right now. But they might be peaking too soon? We'll see.

    ReplyDelete