I've been a 'lil sick...

Saturday night I didn't feel well. When I came home to start cooking for Sunday potluck, I just couldn't stand the sight of food. (An unusual occurence, believe me!) Daniel volunteered to do the cooking for me. He made a batch of cookies, and said that he'd finish the rest of the cooking on Sunday morning. When I wasn't interested in trying a chocolate chip cookie, I knew that I was in trouble!

A little before 1am, I woke up nauseous. I vomited and had diarrhea about every 15 minutes for the next 4 hours. Around 4am I stared vomitting traces of blood, presumably from burst capillaries in my throat. Mom came over at 4:30 with Imodium & Mylanta. That helped stretch out the episodes to about every 1/2 hour. Oh, goody. By 7:30, I'd had it. After vomiting 20 plus times, I was ready to go to the ER. Note: Daniel got up with me every time, and cleaned everything up, using lots of Clorox. What a good man!

We headed to St. V's, which is only about 10 minutes from our house. I felt every bump on the way, even though Daniel was driving as carefully as he could. By this time, my whole torso felt bruised. My back, neck and stomach were all extremely sore from the vomiting. At the ER, I shuffled in like a little old lady, my trusty ice cream bucket in hand.

I signed in and headed straight to the bathroom, with a new barf bag from the hospital. Within 5 or 10 minutes they called me back. I got to try out the new handy-dandy barf bag after the nurse took my temperature. They put me in a room and I met my new best friend: IV Phenergan! Within 2 minutes I wasn't nauseous anymore, wahoo! They put the IV in my elbow, since my hand veins were shriveled from dehydration. They gave me a pint of fluid, too. A doctor came by to examine me, and they took blood and urine for analysis.
After a couple of hours, they were ready to send me home. Apparently I had caught a bug on top of a UTI. Yuck! The nurse asked how I was feeling, and I said that I was fine. Then she took out my IV. It hurt, and I started to faint. Guess what happens when I faint? I get nauseous. I think she thought I was crazy when I told her I was about to throw up! She brought me an anti-nauseou pill to dissolve under my tongue, and after about 15 more minutes, I was ready to go.
We headed to the nearest CVS for my prescriptions. More Phenergan, plus an antibiotic for the UTI. (Have I mentioned how much I love Phenergan? I wonder if they make pins or bumper stickers that say that?) I downed my meds with a Sonic lemon-berry slush, the first thing that had tasted good for a while!
By 10am, I was home, tucked into bed. I continued to wake up every couple of hours with nauseou, but I never threw up again. The Phenergan made me very sleepy, which was fine with me! (Did I say that I love Phenergan? Just checking!)
I am now "on the mend," building up to solid foods and drinking lots of fluids. I'm still sore, but it's going away. Throughout this ordeal, I noticed several things to be thankful for:
1- My sweet, wonderful hubby (may he not catch this!)
2- Indoor plumbing (I can't imagine...)
3- Bleach ('nuff said!)
4- My mom (and her medical training)
5- A good hospital nearby (with a kind staff)
6- Phenergan!!!!