My first food poisoning saga.

This weekend I had my first experience in an ER!

Thursday Justin called, asking how I was doing, and explained that he'd just thrown up twice with possible food poisoning/virus/etc. I was feeling somewhat head-achey, but I finished up at work and headed up to SF, at which point I get a call from J's parents saying that he was in the ER, and that if I start feeling sick to pull over immediately. In between the morning and when I left work, he'd thrown up about 15 times, and luckily his roommate had gotten back to the apt and taken him in. So of course the rest of the drive up to SF I was worried, having sympathy gurgles in my belly, and driving like a maniac. Long story short, I collected him from the ER that night, I called in sick Friday, and we spent the entire weekend sleeping. It probably sounds better than it was.

The ER ended up putting him on Cipro and some anti-nausea drugs, restricting his diet to bland easily-digestible food, and I still don't know if I had it as well but something definitely knocked me out with a sore-throat/headache/fatigue, so it was really good that I could take Friday off. His dad (an internist) recommended that I knock down a bottle of Pepto-bismol, just in case I had E.coli in my belly and it was taking its time incubating. Apparently Pepto-bismol will kill all those nasties before they can overwhelm your system, so I tried it. Unfortunately, as with all preventative maintenance, I have no idea if it worked or not, but I'm mostly recovered from the flu-like symptoms with some residual fatigue/weakness and PB side effects. (black poo!)

I keep teasing him that I've got the stronger constitution...you'd think the vegetarian would have less risk, wouldn't you? I would. But with all the raw fish/eggs I eat I've only barfed two times in my life. (both alcohol related...I try not to waste food) I can't explain why I would be slightly ill and he would be so incredibly sick. The only thing we ate together in the food poisoning timeframe (24hrs) was a peanut butter/banana/honey/ciabatta sandwich on Thursday morning, so it's possible that it was from something he ate Wednesday, or it's possible it was the sandwish...it came and went, and we can only wonder.

Next weekend will be spent getting ready for a climbing trip to Bishop for Memorial Day weekend, so I'm glad this didn't kill any major plans, though it was the first weekend I've been in SF that we haven't gone to a cool new restaurant. Oh food, I love you so, why do you have to do this?

Anyways, keep some pepto-bismol in your cupboard, and drink the entire bottle if you start wondering if you're growing your own E.coli colony. That's the take-away lesson.