The House of Sick

The Migraineur is moving mighty slow lately.  Stomach flu will do that to you.

My husband and I came back from his parents’ place by train on Wednesday.  It’s a long trip, about 8 hours just on Amtrak, plus the commute on either end, but we prefer it to the institutionalized torture, humiliation, invasion of privacy, and abitrary rules that create the illusion of security (you can bring your exploding laptop battery on board, but your shampoo was to go in the cargo hold) that is the American air travel system.  On the subway ride back home, I started to feel fuzzy-headed, with a kind of rumbling in my stomach.  It was so much like my low-blood sugar episode last week, I was sure that I was having another crash.  The problem was, I hadn’t eaten anything that I’d expect to trigger such a crisis - eggs and bacon for breakfast, a large meat and veggie salad for lunch, nuts and a small amount of 70% chocolate for a snack.

Back home, we dropped off our bags, petted the kitties, and walked two blocks to our favorite neighborhood steakhouse.  I ordered a burger, hold the bun, with a side of broccoli, and before I could finish it I was in the bathroom.  Details are unnecessary; let’s just say I was the person you do not want to share a public restroom with.  And that I was up all night evacuating from both ends.

I thought it was food poisoning, probably from the meat on that beautiful lunch salad, until my husband called me from work on Friday - “So, what was your first symptom the other day?”

Folks, we are the House of Sick.  And man, oh man, are we sick!  Tuesday was the last day I consumed, and kept down, anything like a normal amount of food.  On Thursday I had Pedialyte (revolting stuff - why do they add artificial sweetener to something that’s already that sweet?) for breakfast and lunch and graduated to applesauce for dinner.  On Friday, I tried a couple of soft-boiled eggs and a little rice - not too bad.  Somewhere in there I had some sugar-free Jell-O.

There has been no vomiting or diarrhea for several days now, but I am still weak and I don’t have much of an appetite.  I’ve been gradually increasing my protein - today I had some cheese and yogurt and chicken soup.  I have lost three rather unwelcome pounds.  Ordinarily I’d be jumping up and down over a three pound loss, but I am sure it is a combination of dehydration and loss of muscle mass, and I’m sure it will come back once I’m able to be active again.

The worst of it for me is, this was my vacation!  I had all these plans to finish up a dozen small but unfinished household projects, and instead, walking up and down stairs wipes me out.  (I have, at least, read a couple of novels.)

And some of it, too, is that when one is sick for more than a couple of days, one starts to really feel one’s mortality.  My husband and I are like some doddering old couple who have to take naps after any major exertion and can’t keep up with basic housework.  This is a stark reminder that we are not going to live forever; flesh is weak and subject to shock.  I don’t like being reminded of this; who does?  But the Reaper comes for us all.

It has also occurred to me that for some people, migraine is a lot like stomach flu, except it comes with a blinding headache and occurs monthly, weekly, even daily.  I am lucky that, when a migraine does strike, my nausea is mild, but in my teens I could almost guarantee that a migraine would convert me to the Church of the Porcelain Altar.

Tonight, my husband and I toasted the New Year with our flat ginger ale - “May the new year begin better than the old year is ending!”