The reports of my living have been greatly exaggerated. After I posted my journal entry last night, I had another wave of nausea. I finally went into the living room to lie down on the couch hoping that it would pass.
It did, thank goodness, and I slept all night. But the dogs decided I needed to be up at 6 and as soon as I got up, the diarrhea started again. I don't know where it is coming from because I've had almost nothing to eat. I had some rice and some crackers last night. A little rice and a couple of crackers.
By 7 a.m. this morning I was on my third change of clothes and was taking Imodium again.
I have had what amounts to next to nothing to eat since Friday night and what I have ingested has passed through me faster than a bottle of water through a Betsy Wetsy doll. So I'm hungry and grumpy, dammit!
Fortunately Walt was spending the day at the office today because by mid-morning I pretty much was angry with everything -- the dogs, the computer, Walt, myself, and anything that didn't go the way I wanted it to go.
I finally checked out some hints for what I can eat on the internet and discovered (what I really should have already known) that Jello is good, so I whipped up a batch of jello.
My food today: a piece of toast, broth, jello, water, and Imodium. The Imodium seemed to be working, but I was cautious.
I had a meeting to go to tonight, where I was to be installed onto the board of the Davis Community Network, but I had to beg off because I just didn't want to run the risk of being out of the house. It proved to be a very good decision.
I was feeling just "off" in the late morning, so I decided I needed a nap. Apparently my assessment was correct because I slept for two hours.
When I woke up, the diarrhea started again. Not bad, but enough to be noticeable. Then it got worse, necessitating two different changes of clothes (so far). Where in the hell was all this stuff coming from? Who knew there was so much "bulk" in...jello???
I finally decided it was time to call Kaiser's advice nurse (I was hoping I'd get my friend Marsha, but no such luck). There wasn't much the nurse could tell me and I seem to be doing all the right things. She said she'd put in a call to my primary care physician.
While I was talking to her I had an incoming call from my old boss--not Dr. G, but Dr. S, for whom I worked for 12 years. He was calling about some work he'd like me to do, but I ran my symptoms by him too, and he pretty much told me the same thing as the advice nurse. I seem to be doing everything right and he can't think of anything else to tell me.
I sent Walt to the store for Crystal Lite (to replace electrolytes), bananas (which they say would be good for me...something to sink my teeth into!) and laundry detergent, since I've gone through a huge box of it the past four days.
I sincerely hope that this is not going to drag along so long that it's going to force me to cancel my trip to Santa Barbara (the day after tomorrow), but there is no way I will risk bringing the virus down to anybody there. I'm hoping that by tomorrow I will be back to normal again.
In the meantime, I'm all set to turn my thoughts baby-ward because I have a whole new appreciation of and sympathy for babies in dirty diapers. It's too bad the baby isn't here yet, because I'd be the first one leaping up to change her diapers, so she doesn't have to sit in her own mess for more than a few seconds.
Oddly enough, even though I have eaten almost nothing for 3-4 days, I don't feel hungry. What a great time this would be to get serious about a diet, the virus having done the hard part of dieting for me!
Just a note: As of midnight 2/19, I am feeling better than I have in days. I am cautiously optimistic. I am probably going to Santa Barbara after all. My guru is coming to get my computer for some tune-up work tomorrow and I'll be on the train Thursday for hours and then at Walt's sister's while I'm in Santa Barbara. There will be journal entries all along the way, but Lord knows when they will be posted, or when e-mail will be read or anything else.
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