OK, before I get into the meat of this, I advise strongly that if you have any aversion to hearing about bodily functions, illness or anything similar that you disregard the remainder of this post and go about your day. I am getting to the point where I feel that the need to document the last couple weeks takes a higher priority than the normal G-rated nature of the blogosphere.
If you're still here then sobeit.
On the weekend of August 28/29 I started getting sick. I didn't clue into the fact that there was anything unusual about this - I basically felt a bit flu-ey and didn't give it much thought beyond that. I first started throwing up after helping Ernie load up a truck load of waste from my house - wall framing, old insulation and things like that. It felt like I was blowing orange juice out my nose - pulpy, sour, and basically burned like stomach bile. I definitely had diaherreah but this was in keeping with a flu issue so I didn't give it much thought.
Monday Aug 30th came and went without issue. I was still having issues keeping food down, still running for the toilet, but I thought it was a bit less intense so figured I was on the way back up.
Tuesday Aug 31st was a bit of a mistake - Carol and I thought we had our prenatal visit so instead of starting work we went to the doctors, found out when we got there that it was for the next day, so I went to work. Literally couldn't stomach food at all - immediately ill. I was starting to worry a bit being ill so long but figured I was seeing the doctor on Wednesday so I'd talk to him then. Tuesday evening was the last time that I was able to actually pee - after this point any water that I took in came out again as painful diaherreah about 5-10 minutes after drinking.
Wednesday Sept 1 was our prenatal visit. I mentioned my stomach/bowel issues to the doctor and he basically suggested taking Immodium and letting it blow over. I had tried Immodium off and on - generally has no effect on me - but I figured I'd give it a shot. Again, spent most of the day getting sick. My stomach was starting to hurt fairly seriously but I could ignore it for the most part. I'd say 3-4 on the pain scale of 10.
Thursday Sept 2 was very hard for me. I went to work early because I couldn't sleep with my stomach hurting so much. Once I got to work I quickly realized that there was no chance of consuming food. Any water immediately went through me so I confined myself to sips when I could afford to run to the toilet. By mid-afternoon the pain was bad enough that I was either going to the walk-in or the emergency ward. I left work early and sat through an hour and a half of people to talk with the doctor at the walk-in. The conversation almost immediately took a serious focus - at this point it had been 48 hours since I'd last been able to pee at all, my stomach lining was flared up enough that I could guide the doctor through tracing my intestine with her finger. She seemed quite alarmed at how frequent my bowels were acting up and my intolerance of water. She asked about Immodium as well - it was doing absolutely nothing for me. She put me on the max clinical dose of Lomotil which basically is a suped up sedative version of Immodium. She ordered a whack of tests from the Phoenix - bowel and blood both. She explained that there are all sorts of things that could be wrong but impending organ failure, hepatitis and complete milk allergy (not lactose intolerance but allergy) were all very much on the table. I'm to head into emerg immediately if things don't get much better.
Friday Sept 3 I filled my prescription and did my tests first thing. I'd forgotten how unpleasant bowel tests are. The pharmacist was a bit surprised by the dosage on the Lomotil - she suggested that I aim for perhaps 1 daily rather than the 8 daily as prescribed. She warned that Lomotil on these dosages would pretty much put me on my back. I went to work and took the day off - explained all of what had happened and started taking the Lomotil. It spaces me out but definitely slowed down my bowels - now I'm only having painful liquid diaherreah four times daily instead of continously and I can pee again.
This last weekend has been a blur. Take more Lomotil, try to consume more water, try to build up my stomach to being able to accept food again. In the time it's taken to write this I've had to run and throw up three times. I can't stop shaking. I feel feverish and weak. My insides are on fire. If I had any idea what I could do to make it stop then I would but honestly I'm at a loss. The only debatable part for me is whether I go back to the hospital and see if I can get more tests run on me. I can't tell if this is a nasty flu virus (and thus nothing can effectively be done) or whether I legitimately have something wrong with me.
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