Drink Rum

I'm not sure how to go about writing this up, so I'll try to do it chronologically. This all happened this passed Tuesday.

4:00AM
I woke up around four in the morning with some pain and pressure in my stomach and lower intestines. I laid in bed hoping it would pass, but it increased and I sprinted into the bathroom. I had horrible bowel movements. Horrible. Then I had to vomit. I barely hit the flusher on the toilet before I started vomitting violently. I felt horrible, but a bit better, so I tried to go back to sleep.

4:15AM
It all happens again.

5:00AM-6:45AM
I continue to have problems. I'm now just passing water from my bowels and dry-heaving. Very painful. I try to drink fluids, pepto, gatorade. They all bounce. After the last vomiting episode, I start to feel very cold and I decide I need to see a doctor. I can barely walk up the stairs. Dizziness. Kerie was up getting ready for work and she gasped when she saw me. I had no color in my skin and my lips had turned blue. We got in the car and drove to the hospital.

7:15AM
We arrive at the ER, Kerie goes to check me in. I go find a bathroom. When I come back Kerie's still filing out forms. I curl up on the floor because I can't stand anymore. The nurses move me into a triage room and take vitals. Blood pressure is low, but heart rate is high. My body temperature was 96.2. I begin vomitting bile. They move me to a new room.

7:30AM
I'm lying in the bed trying as hard as I can not to vomit anymore. It was to the point that the heaving was pulling muscles in my chest and back and causing spasms. An administrator comes in and asks me to sign some forms. I sign the first two forms, but the third one I can only manage a scribble. Kerie gets to use her power of attorney powers because I'm deemed unable to make any other decisions regarding my treatment. A doctor comes in and throws the administrator out. That made me happy. The doctor and I played 20 questions and he decided his first course of action was to get me rehydrated. They gave me a liter of saline plus a drug to stop me from vomitting. It also caused drowsiness.

I don't remember the rest of the times the rest of the story takes place, but here it is.

They wanted to get a urine sample so they could test it. After an hour on the IV saline, I could finally urinate. Urine tests came back normal. I hadn't thrown up since the IV started, but the nausea was there, as were the horrible bowel movements. I had to get up and walk to the restroom with Kerie carrying my IV bag.

I drained the first liter of saline and they gave me another liter of fluid. They also gave me more anti-nausea medication and a painkiller. I finally felt a bit better. The cramping pain passed.

I stayed there for another hour getting more fluids. I was able to drink some juice without vomitting so they were ready to release me.

The verdict was gastroenteritis. You can wikipedia that if you'd like.

They gave me an order for bedrest for the rest of the week and a prescription for the anti-vomitting drug.

I went home and slept for 12 hours.

I woke up with a horrible headache and pain in my chest and back. It felt like I'd pulled my diaphram muscle.

It's now about 30 hours later and I feel much better. I feel like I have the flu with headaches, chills, etc. I've been able to drink fluids and eat a banana. I attempted a bowl of soup last night, but quit after getting halfway through it.

Basically, I have to wait for the virus to run its course. But it's tolerable compared to the hell that was yesterday.