Month: September 2016

For lunch today I had the poutine as I had anticipated. They didn’t have the fried chicken poutine so I had to settle for the hamburger one. Ground beef ain’t no fried chicken but it’s better than salad, that’s for sure.

It was so tasty, with the fresh and crispy fries, hot gravy, and gooey melted curds. Lunch was satisfied my soul for once instead of just satisfying a nutritional requirement for my body. Alas, it’s back to salads once more next week.

I’m not sure what I’ll have tomorrow for lunch. I don’t think either of the food trucks that are scheduled to show up are ones that tickle my fancy. I’m also not sure what they’ll be serving in the cafeteria. Maybe just a panini this time.

It was a week ago I was in some serious discomfort as I dealt with that nasty gastrointestinal issue. I’m still not 100% but I’m happy to report I had a normal bowel movement today (for those who are wondering and scoring at home).

As many of you know, I’ve been eating salad every single day for lunch for about three months now. I stopped that this week as I wanted to stick to foods that were completely cooked. So far this week I’ve had paninis, soups, and a bit of pasta, fairly safe stuff. Perhaps a bit more carb and calorie heavy than just salad but I did lose almost three pounds in about 24 hours last week. As such, I think there is a bit of leeway involved. Tomorrow the poutine food truck is scheduled to make its regular appearance at the studio. I resisted partaking for almost six months now but before I go back to my salad lunches next week, I think it’s ok if I get poutine for lunch one time.

They have a fried chicken poutine on the menu. That sounds pretty good.

For the first time in almost a week, I (mostly) pooped solids this evening. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen when I sat down but to my delight, things looked semi-normal again. Well, at least my condition didn’t regress.

I am slightly more gassy during the day though. I’m guessing my body is still trying to get everything back to the way it was. Luckily, the spots to my right and behind me could be filled with a co-worker but they currently sit empty. So I kinda just let loose whenever I need to.

Hopefully by the weekend, I’ll be 100% again.

I wonder if anyone has ever been afflicted with diarrhea in space. I bet the answer is yes.

Today was the first time since Tuesday that I didn’t have a diarrhea episode. I had four straight days of liquid hell coming out of my rear. I wound up having to take Friday off from work as well. The worst part of this was the first 12 hours or so but then it settled into this awful steady-state condition. Sometime around Thursday, the acute pain and chills went away, which was great but the constant watery diarrhea, dehydration, and fatigue remained.

On Thursday and Friday, I kept running to the bathroom. Sometimes I’d go and then ten minutes later I’d have to run back to unleash hell again. Ugh. Things seemed to calm down on Saturday. I only went once. Today I didn’t go at all. Technically, I’m still waiting for my first semi-solid poop to happen since this incident began. I’m hoping it’s the next one.

As for the dehydration, it seems like I’ve been trying to hydrate back to my previous levels since Wednesday. It’s now Sunday and I still feel like I’m not there yet. I’ve alternated between plain water and those sports drinks with electrolytes. I’ve become quite fond of Powerade fruit punch flavour. Man that stuff is tasty. I know I must be still dehydrated because I just looked at my hands and the skin there looks terrible. I have the hands of a senior citizen. It’s gross.

I’m also really tired now. I couldn’t sleep on Wednesday night and because my body has probably expended lots of energy to fight this, I feel pretty lethargic. I’ve been sleeping a lot though. I slept most of Friday and I also got lots of rest on Saturday. It’s still not enough.

I’ll be ok to return to work tomorrow but it will be a few days more for sure before I feel 100% again. I was thinking the other day that this happened under the most ideal circumstances. I was able to rest and recuperate at home. It must doubly suck for people to get gastrointestinal illnesses while traveling in strange foreign countries. What a way to spend a vacation, chained to your hotel bathroom, feeling sorry for the housekeeping staff that has to clean the mess you leave behind.

I apologize for not blogging yesterday but I’ve had a horrendous last 24 hours. I started feeling ill Wednesday afternoon at work. At first I thought it was just a case of heartburn but the discomfort felt lower in my body than usual. I took four anti-acid chews but it didn’t really help. I also didn’t feel hungry at noon which was also unusual.

I ate a small bit of soup anyways and that’s when the real trouble started. After an hour after eating, I had diarrhea, like peeing from my butt type. I knew something was really wrong at that point. About an hour later I peed from my butt again and I started feeling nauseous.

It was at 3pm that I decided I should go home early from work. 3pm by the way is a terrible time to go home, traffic sucks then. I was fine on the way home but as soon as I got in my apartment I started getting the chills. I changed into my PJs and crawled under the covers in my bed. I tried to stay hydrated but even a small sip of water would cause me to run to the bathroom five minutes later. I was losing more water out of my butt than I could replace it by other means.

For most of the evening, I just felt terrible and laid in bed. I couldn’t get any sleep because there was a general discomfort throughout my body that prevented me from falling asleep. As I laid in my bed I watched the sky turn from dark to light as morning came. Around 6am I felt really uncomfortable, went to the bathroom, burped a few times, and then realized my body wanted me to vomit. Sometimes your body won’t give you a choice and the reflex action of vomiting happens automatically. Other times, your body wants to vomit but you can control if you actually do. I decided if my body wanted something out of it that badly, it should probably go. I wretched a few times over the sink and my body then knew this was for real. The soup I had earlier the day came up violently in three separate actions. I could taste it in my mouth and it was in my nostrils. Vomiting is so gross. I was hoping everything that needed to be gone was because I didn’t want to do this again. I blew my nose to get out all the remnants of the soup and vomit.

I returned to bed and I realized I felt instantly better. That general discomfort I felt in my chest had disappeared. It was good enough to allow me to fall asleep for about an hour or so. I woke up extremely parched and I realized I hadn’t peed since I gotten home. I was probably really dehydrated at this point. I gently sipped some water but it was still causing me to pee from my butt.

I wasn’t really in any condition to go to work, so I had to take a sick day. I’ve spent most of the day in bed, trying to stay hydrated. The only time I’m not in bed is when I have to run to the bathroom to pee out of my butt. That’s probably happened at least 10 times today. I’m also amazed at how much liquid is coming out of there. For the amount of liquid I’ve consumed in the last 24 hours, it doesn’t account for how much is coming out. Where is that from?

Things look to be improving though. In the last hour or so I’ve consumed a sports drink with electrolytes and I haven’t had to run to the bathroom yet. It’s too early to tell if I can go back to work tomorrow but I don’t think that will be too likely.

I’ve had to deal with gastrointestinal maladies before and they just suck so bad. Having terrible things come out of your body at both ends is so gross. Some people never experience this and I think they are very lucky people.

The ABC News show What Would You Do? returned this August with new segments. I’m quite fond of this show. Over the last few years, it’s become sorta this morality-based version of Candid Camera. While some of the situations deal with serious issues, the one above is less so, though still embarrassing. If you liked this video, you should check out the version they did three years ago, that time with a male pharmacist.

Going back to work after a long weekend totally sucks for anyone, myself included but I did manage to find a minuscule silver lining in returning to the rat race. Over the last three days, I’ve consumed a lot of delicious but ultimately empty carbs and calories. I don’t regret it but the reality is I eat much healthier during the work week. It’s mainly because I’m stuck at work for most of the day and our cafeteria has been shut down since May for renovations. All the work was supposed to be done by the end of August but the latest update has the new cafeteria opening in November at the earliest. As such, there’s very little food being served in this little makeshift cafe they have set up. Since I’m also basically just eating salad for lunch every day I tend to quite healthy during the work week.

That’s not to say I wouldn’t welcome winning $20M in the lottery and then quitting my job. In that situation, I would find someway to eat healthy while not being at work. I think I could make that happen.

It’s the Labour Day long weekend and I am super glad to have the Monday off. This does signal the unofficial start of the fall season though and I always find this time to be very unpleasant. First, the weather (as I have mentioned many times) turns to crap almost immediately. Second, although the days have been progressively getting shorter since late June, it becomes really noticeable in September when you get home and have perhaps an hour or so before the sun sets. Soon we’ll be upon that dastardly time of year where the sun sets and you’re still at work! Lastly, as people return to school and their regular work schedules, the traffic on the roads and the number of people using public transit becomes quite congested. The one bus I take to work becomes packed with students in the morning and will be until the school year ends in May or so.

Alas, I still have Monday to relax so there’s that.

Earlier in the week I wrote about waiting to get diarrhea again because of some grapes. I did not get sick again thankfully. I ate the rest of the grapes without incident. Not sure what happened with the first bunch. You can all rest easy now.

It’s the Labour Day long weekend coming up and I didn’t even realize it until someone told me on Monday. A lot of people at work have taken the Friday off or already have left on vacation. While I haven’t, it does make for a more relaxing workplace as there are less people in the studio. It’s quieter and there’s just less stuff going on. It’s almost similar to when you have to go in on Christmas Eve.

While there is ample opportunity for me to slack off on the Friday before the long weekend, I am actually quite motivated to finish up some stuff before the start of the next week. I really don’t want my current task to drag into Tuesday morning. I’d like to start the next week with something fresh and new.

As for the long weekend itself, as I didn’t even realize it was coming, it may not be a surprise that I didn’t really plan for anything. I think I have lunch with a friend organized but beyond that, I think I have sleep penciled in. I’m not sure what else after that.

To all the parents out there, good luck with sending your kids back to school!