You do not have to read this. I have spent the last few days being very sick and not doing anything cool or fun. You’ve been warned.
So after I picked up my flammekuchen, I decided to eat it on my way back home. I’ve been trying to maintain some amount of working (even though today is technically a holiday), so I can keep up with all of my projects. But as I’m walking back, I barely make it through two slices before my stomach says, “no, something isn’t right”. I try to force down a third slice, thinking that more bread will help after having that hot drink (hot eggs and liquor???), but my body warns me not to push it. Since I’ve already had a bit of traveller’s stomach upset this trip, I quickly get home and try to let these digestive things work themselves out.
I spent a few hours at home working before taking an immodium and going to dinner at a friend’s house. She and her family have invited me over for a raclette evening, which is usually their tradition with family for the day before Christmas. Fun! I stop at a flower shop and buy her some flowers before taking the bus to Howald, a town just south of Luxembourg City. Dinner is lovely and she has prepared some delicious Luxembourgish specialties and there are some interesting Luxembourgish beers. The raclette was super fun, with a variety of cheeses to choose from. There was one with mustard seeds in it that I really liked. Though I didn’t eat as much as I have normally been eating, I had a good evening. And then it was time for dessert and coffee. There was chocolate cake and macarons. The chocolate cake was so rich and delicious. And the macarons were also great. But by the end of dessert, I was in a bit of a cold sweat, thinking maybe I’d eaten too much. I got home from dinner at around 11, and went to bed.
It Starts…
Then it happened. I woke up at 1, and everything inside my body was rumbling. I dashed to the restroom. **Seriously, you might not want to read this part….just skip to the next paragraph** I explosively emptied the contents of my bowels, which were 0% solid matter. This is a bit alarming. I flushed the toilet, then got up to wash my hands. As I’m standing there, my body says there’s more that needs to get out. So I go through the same steps, emptying my guts and then washing my hands. I’m pale and sweaty. But the toilet tank takes a bit of time to fill up, so I can’t flush it again for another minute. So I decide to just very thoroughly wash my hands. As I’m standing there washing my hands, my stomach says ‘my turn!’ and I try to reason with it… please wait until the toile can flush… but no. I’m now face down over a fowled toilet bowl projectile vomiting so hard that pieces are coming out of my nose. This is a new low, I think. I must at some point think about all of the decisions that have led me to this point.
Ok, you can start reading again. So I crawl into bed completely horrified. I can’t get comfortable. I must have a fever because I am shaking and aching with chills. My body hurts. My stomach hurts. My bones and my muscles hurt. I sleep fitfully through the night, periodically getting up to expel more liquids from my body. I start drinking as much water as I can, but whenever I drink anything, my stomach gurgles a foreboding sound. I take what I have on hand: tylenol cold/flu, advil, immodium, ginger pills. Anything that will help, but nothing does. Tylenol and advil together do not seem to be bringing the fever down at all.
I cancel my planned Saturday outing to the Strasbourg Christmas markets, and I stay in bed. All day. I barely move. I can’t eat. I keep drinking water. I’m just aching and in pain. I’m pretty sure it’s just a normal stomach flu, for which there is no cure, you just wait it out. They say you only have to go to the doctor if you become severely dehydrated. The symptoms for being severely dehydrated are: dry mouth/excessive thirst (I have that), exhaustion (yep), dry, burning eyes (yes), and dizziness/confusion. Now I’m sitting in a room all alone, so I do not yet believe that I have any dizziness or confusion. Clearly, if there were neurological symptoms, I would go see a doctor.
As this progresses into the night and it’s now been about 36 hours, Joe is getting very worried. He thinks it must be something worse, like appendicitis. I am in so much pain and have no car and don’t know how doctors work, so it seems like just too much effort to even try to see a doctor. I’m young and healthy and I’m sure it will just work itself out. Even though my cheeks are red with fever.
Seeing a Doctor
Sunday morning, and no improvements at all. This is getting even more concerning. Joe is really pushing me to go to a doctor. I have eaten 3 cookies and 1 yogurt in the last 2 days. I’m not even sure how I’m functioning. I weigh myself on the scale and see that I have lost 8 pounds in less than 48 hours. This is the thing that is alarming enough to me that I decide to go to the doctor. So I message a friend and I ask her how to see a doctor if I needed one urgently. I was trying to figure out the web taxi service to get myself to the hospital. She immediately messaged me back and said “I’ll come get you in 10 minutes and take you”. Thank the heavens.
This is where I realize just how bad off I am. That whole confusion/dizziness thing? Oh yeah, I can’t get my things together. I can’t get into her car without dropping my glasses. I can’t then pick up my glasses off of the street. She really had to step in and take care of me because I was a mess. I’m just like “Here’s my money and my passport. Give it to anyone who will make me feel better.” But she is totally on top of things. She rolls up to my place with a surgical mask for me to wear so I don’t get her sick, and a bag of gatorade and crackers and tylenol. She knows what’s up.
We went to an Urgent Care clinic where I was seen within half an hour. The doctor lady was so nice. Like when I finally got back to see her, I was just like, please help me I don’t know what to do. She checked to make sure it wasn’t appendicitis, which was good. And she checked for all the signs of dehydration. She pinched my skin to see how elastic it was. She took my temperature and even went to her computer to convert it to Fahrenheit for me. 102 degree fever is completely unreasonable for an adult. And I’ve been this way for days. She listened to my heart and said it was racing because of the fever. Then she took my blood pressure and said that the increased heart rate with the dehydration was causing my blood pressure to be a little high, but I’m not in shock “yet”. So I need to get the fever down as soon as possible. Yes, ok, that I would love to do. She sits down and writes me a prescription for 6 different medications. Some 1 gram pills of acetaminophen to bring the fever down. Some pills for stomach cramps. Some different anti-diarrhea medication. Along with that, some probiotic pills to replenish the stomach’s bacteria and some electrolyte replacement sachets that have to be mixed with water.
But of course, this is a piece of paper. We then have to go across town to the only pharmacy that is open to fill the prescription. Also, everyone else in town who needs a pharmacy on a Sunday is here, so it ends up being about a half an hour wait. We’re standing in line when my friend sees me rocking back and forth and asks if I want to just go sit in the car. She took such good care of me. She picked up her keys to click the button to unlock the door for me and I literally batted at them like a cat…. I’m not sure if I thought she was handing them to me and I was trying to take them but was too uncoordinated… but yeah, severe dehydration. Nothing in the world made sense and everything hurt.
Wonton soup 
3x/day meds
She dropped me off at home with my bounty of medications and I took all of them before promptly falling asleep again. The outcome? The giant tylenol pills were finally strong enough to take out my fever, so I woke up 2 hours later drenched in sweat, but having finally slept. My muscles weren’t aching. It was such a relief. The anti-diarrhea medication seems to have also worked. I’m still exhausted and dehydrated, obviously. I ordered delivery wonton soup Sunday night for dinner, thinking a clear broth soup would be soothing, but I couldn’t eat it. My stomach feels so hungry, but the damage to my stomach lining is so severe that eating anything hurts. Every time I eat or drink anything, my stomach just rumbles and aches. I feel like constant acid reflux/indigestion. I’m sure it will heal over the next few days.
And now it’s Monday. I am happy to say that I was able to eat a yogurt for breakfast, and I did finally eat my wonton soup for lunch. It was very satisfying. Strangely, laying down is the only way I feel ok. I’m exhausted, yes, but that acid reflux feeling comes back any time I sit up or stand. I have to be laying down, and then, on my side, to not be in pain. I hope that works itself out. I’m taking my meds and trying to get better. I’m baby stepping!
