That time I slept in a park because I was sick and have children

Let me explain.


Between ages of about 10 and 30 I don't think I ever really got that sick. Just the standard coughs and sniffles, headaches and the very occasional migraine.

Also, this guy.

Then I had children. Then they started going to child care. And then everything changed.

At first, mostly they just got sick. But after awhile, I can only surmise they built immunity against a range of strong viruses and bacteria I've never been exposed to in my own childhood. What is a day of sniffles and a quick recovery for them, is for me being suddenly and violently smashed by illness.

It's happened three times in the last two years.

The first time it happened, I called my then pregnant wife to drive into the city and pick up me from work and the two eldest kids from child care. I was so sick that I didn't think I could get myself and them home safely on the train. My tour of the CBDs various public bathrooms while I waited for her to arrive vindicated my decision.

The second time, I was already quite sick but caught the train into the city to drop the two eldest boys off for child care. I planned to come back home by train instead of go to work. Except I was so dehydrated my blood pressure crashed - it was measured later that morning as 80 over 52, which I've been told is quite low, and it would've been lower a few hours earlier. So I got disorientated and started walking away from the train station. I ended up hailing a taxi and collapsing into the back seat.

The third time was a couple of months ago. I started feeling nauseous walking from home to the train station with the three kids in the morning. On the train, I was starting to run very hot. By the time I dropped the kids at child care, I was struggling to control my stomach and push the pram.

Now the previous two times it was wife to the rescue, but this time my wife was in Melbourne for work. 

This is important in my decision-making process, which was as follows...

Based on the previous two times I've felt this ill, this suddenly, I wasn't confident in getting home and then getting back to the city to pick up the kids again in the afternoon.

So I decided to go to work and see if the situation improved.

(I didn't say it was a good decision-making process.)

I took some Panadol and I drank a lot of water. When that didn't help, I also drank a coffee - I realise this works against the water, but as a coffee junkie, sometimes having a coffee works. But here, nothing worked.

Actual picture of me at work
 the third time. 

At 11am I had a video conference where I honestly didn't remember a single element of the conversation.

By lunch I was beyond working. I was beyond even the illusion of working. But if I'd had a chance to go home and rest earlier, now I was no chance. There was simply no time for the round trip and recovery in between.

I came to the conclusion there was only one thing left to do: I started looking at options where I could sleep, in the Sydney CBD, without it being too weird.

I eventually decided to go to Hyde Park and sleep on the grass under a tree. And it worked! I dozed for about 90 minutes using my work bag as a pillow and I felt so much better afterwards. Not only that, but laying there in the park, under the shade of a tree... it was pleasant, almost meditative. I might do it again when I'm feeling perfectly fine.

And I only had one ibis come at me.