Sympathy Pains

I never realized what a tender tummy I have until our trip to Mansa yesterday.

Since this trip to Mansa would be the last before Tom heads to the U.S we decided to take Peter with us for some special time. Troy needed a yellow fever shot in preparation for his upcoming trip to the U. S as well, so it turned into a family road trip. 

We woke Peter up early and he had a peanut butter sandwich with Tom before we drove out at 7 AM. 

It was a rainy, drizzly day. Not much to look at out of the windows. All grey and bleak. Inevitably Peter got bored. He began to ask to sit with me up front. 

After telling him no, it wasn't long before he started telling me he had a stomach ache. Even though Troy was convinced he was lying to get attention, I decided to hold him on my lap in case he was car sick. 

We had to make a short stop at our new land to  talk with the headman. He'd had an important dream he wanted to share with us. (More about this at a later date)

While waiting for Tom to have his conversation, I tried to interest Peter in some of the story books we brought along, but he was uncharacteristically quiet. I began to wonder if he really were feeling ill.

Sure enough, the stomach ache revealed itself to be real indeed. All down the side of the door--inside the car! All over my messenger bag! All over Peter! It was a mess!

I threw open the door and had Peter stand outside to complete doing what needed doing. Trouble was it was still raining. So I had to maneuver to hold an umbrella over Peter while comforting him and trying  to contain the mess. 

I couldn't  ask Troy to help because he was actually also sick with malaria. Did I forget to mention that? What a day!

Finally I called for Tom and he hurried over to dig the paper towels out of the back of the car. All the coolers, crates and shopping bags had to come out first. 

It took every last paper towel to get the mess under control, and even then my messenger bag was destroyed. Thankfully I had my laptop bag with me and I could transfer everything over. 

Ever since I had begun to wonder if Peter was car sick, I'd been battling my own nausea. Now having to deal with the aftermath if Peter's sick, I thought it might be a matter of not beating it, but joining in. Troy made it clear there was no way he was cleaning up after me should I take that route. 

The rest of the day was a trial indeed as Peter's stomach gave him, and us by extension, big trouble.

He cheered up a bit in the middle of the day, but by the time to go home he was feeling sickly again. We had another small episode, but he finally fell asleep. It wasn't the day we'd hoped for, but we survived it, which is always a good thing. 

My mom used to say her stomach would hurt when someone had a cut or injury. At the time I thought it was an odd thing to say, but now I find myself clutching my own stomach when I see someone in pain.  What about you? Do you get sympathy pains and/or nausea when someone else is sick?