My Week Offline
Friends and colleagues have noticed that I’ve not been online at all this entire week, and I thought I’d share the story behind that in a post.
Last Sunday afternoon I was sitting in the cinema about to watch The Lovely Bones, and all was well. About half an hour into the movie, though, I began to feel cold. Since Sal wasn’t cold, we figured I must’ve been sitting in line with the air conditioner. The theatre was busy enough that we couldn’t really change seats, so I put up with it. As the movie went on, I got colder and colder, and by its end I was physically shivering, teeth chattering, lungs sore from breathing in cold air. It was literally the coldest I had ever felt.
Well, it turns out that it had nothing to do with the cinema. When I got home I was no better. I didn’t stop feeling cold until an hour or two later when the fever kicked in.
Sunday night was sleepless as I wrestled with spikes in body temperature and general pain throughout my body, and of course I resolved not to go to work on Monday, figuring that this was some sort of 24-hour bug and that I’d be good by the next day.
Monday brought new surprises, and I’m sure you’ll forgive me for not going into any more detail than the following two words: Explosive Diarrhea.
Monday night saw me bouncing between the bed and the toilet every 40 minutes or so, so it looked like it was going to be two days off, and a visit to the doctor. The doctor immediately diagnosed it as an infection of campylobacter, which is a common cause of food poisoning. The third case he’d seen that week. He said it takes about five days to pass, and suggested two things in the meantime:
- Codeine
- Sports drinks
Weird, huh? The codeine was for the stomach cramps (which, by this stage, were brutal) and (his words) to “bundle me up” a bit inside. The sports drinks were for rehydration and electrolyte replenishment.
We got straight into the codeine, which worked pretty well, but unfortunately it was not until late Wednesday that I remembered about the sports drinks. I’d been trying, until then, to sip at glasses of water, but by Wednesday arvo I was dangerously dehydrated. I could barely move, and my skin (particularly my lips) was dry and flaky. They say you can last three days without water. I’d been drinking, but not nearly enough. Let me say that when Sal brought home a bottle of Gatorade, it was a revelation. It was like I’d been waiting for that drink since Sunday night.
By Thursday I was starting to come round. I hit the pain killers every four hours, and kept up with the sports drinks.
The doctor had given me a medical certificate through ‘til Thursday, but luckily my boss has given me the ok to work from home on Friday. I’m definitely still in no shape to drive for an hour to get to work, much less sit at a desk for a day.
The big news came last night on the local news on TV: It turns out that It’s not just food poisoning, it’s a salmonella outbreak that has struck the border region! So I’ve just gone through a week with salmonellosis. I can tell you that I lost about 7 kg in three days, and it’s without a doubt the sickest I’ve been since I contracted chicken pox back when I was 21.
The moral of the story: don’t get salmonella poisoning. Apparently local authorities have traced the source back to a retail outlet in town that we ate at on Saturday (Sal was lucky not to pick it up herself). My brother-in-law ended up in hospital on a drip, and I’m sure I could’ve been next to him if we’d gone there rather than to the doctor. What a week!
Comments
# Dave Burke
22/01/2010 7:34 AM
Sorry for the crappy week. I'll have to remember the Sports Drink tip. A few observations: Codeine is hard to get here in the states. Sounds like you can get it over the counter. We have to go through a doc. Secondly, I hate the chills and fever thing. That chattering of teeth and shivering is the worse. As for the explosive diarrhea, according to South Park, that's a good thing, right? So the week wasn't totally bad.
Thanks for the good story.
-Dave
# mabster
22/01/2010 7:38 AM
Yeah, no prescription required here for codeine. Sal grabbed a box of like 36 tablets from the local pharmacy. I made it over half way through the box! I'm like Gregory House!
# David Burke
22/01/2010 7:40 AM
Bloody hell Matt! Glad to see you're better.
# mabster
22/01/2010 7:45 AM
Thanks Dave. (Two comments from two different people on opposite sides of the planet, both named David Burke!)
# Dave Burke
22/01/2010 7:47 AM
Wow, Mabs. You know ALL the cool people on the planet!
# Deems
22/01/2010 8:00 AM
Welcome back mate - food poisoning in any shape or form is most unwelcome and never a fun experience (my wife and I both had it at the same time once not too long after our first-born).
Glad to hear you're okay and back online again!
# mabster
22/01/2010 8:10 AM
Cheers, Deems. I don't know what I would've done had Sal contracted it at the same time. She was my (almost) flul time nurse!
# brad
22/01/2010 8:55 AM
Interested in your story as one of many affected by the salmonella scare ... could you contact us if you are interested (02) 6024 0629
# MIchael van der Veeke
22/01/2010 9:17 AM
Hi Matt,
Glad to hear you are better. The one question we all want to know, especially anyone living in Albury / Wodonga, Where did you eat?
Cheers
Michael
# mabster
22/01/2010 9:30 AM
I deliberately didn't name them, Michael, because by all accounts it was a one-off mistake and they remain one of my fave places. If you wanna drop me an email I can fill you in. :)
# tristan
22/01/2010 10:10 PM
Mate of mine came down with me for a holiday away from the big city. He ate at a certain establishment on Sunday, had same symptoms for a few days, spent yesterday at hospital on a drip... nasty. Good meal though apparently.