A lot of views plus a lack of replies doesn't mean you're pathetic! It just means that a lot of people read (or re-read) the thread during the time where you hadn't posted anything! Or that those of us who read it might not have thought of any advice for you. But it certainly doesn't mean that anyone thinks you are pathetic (and don't forget to think about all the lurkers who aren't registered and are only just reading things for now!)

I hope that your sister and you work things out for the kids' sake, but I don't really have any advice. It makes sense to not take a child last minute, even your family, when they're sick and you have other non-sick children. It doesn't sound like whatever the event was that your sister really HAD needed to be there - it sounds like a lot of the kids went without their parents and were fine, including your own! (Of course, there's an exception if her older daughter has a lot of anxiety... in which case it might have been more understandable for your sister to feel she needed to go with her). I'm sure that if you had already had your niece staying before she got sick that you might not have cancelled, even though you would have perfectly alright to do so (my mom has a home daycare, and her only main rule is that if the kid is throwing up or contagious then they can't come for the day - of course, if the kid throws up for the first time while already over my mom doesn't expect the parent to come home from work, although she will call them). But choosing to expose your children to their sick cousin? No one would do that unless it was truly an emergency!