Flu

Remember how I thought I had food poisoning on my birthday? Well, that was on a Monday night and I didn't feel better until Tuesday afternoon. Felt fine Wednesday, Thursday, and most of the day Friday.

And then "It" attacked me. Friday night at my parents' house, where we were gathering with some friends from out of town, we hadn't been there for more than 20 minutes when "It" hit me full-force. We left in a hurry and upon arriving home I threw up the whole 2 bites of dinner I had eaten (I will never eat spaghetti again). I felt so awful, and this was the second round of this illness that week, that I asked Mitch to take me to the hospital. (Would have gone to the regular dr., but they were closed.) I thought I had appendicitis, it was that bad. Thanks again to the Denzers, who rescued us and came to stay with Layla.

Two hours later we leave the hospital with two prescriptions, one for nausea and one for stomach cramping, and I'm told I have the stomach flu.

Well, here it is, one week later, Friday, and I'm still throwing up and having severe stomach cramping. I had to miss out on one family Christmas party that I was really looking forward to, and I am missing the Jon Schmidt Christmas concert tonight. I don't want to risk having another attack while I'm there, and I can't drive when I'm on this medication. We also missed out on seeing the lights at Temple Square with our friends.

I went to my regular dr. on Tuesday and repeated the blood work, which all came back normal. Apparently it really is just the flu. The nearly-two-week-long-throwing-up-super-painful-dehydrated-stomach-flu.

Trying to look at the positive, I have lost over 5 pounds. And "It" has given me a new appreciation for the good health I usually have. And for family. Mitch took several days off to stay home with me. I forced him to go on his business trip this week, even though he wanted to cancel it. Layla and I stayed at my parent's house, where my mom, brother, and grandma took turns taking care of us. Thanks you guys, for dropping everything to help me. For not getting grossed out when I vomited in front of you, several times, while crying and trying not to appear too helpless. I'm sure it wasn't a pretty sight.

I've never been this sick in my life. I'm a very healthy person. No one else that I've been around has come down with it. I swear it's really my gallbladder. I've heard that blood tests won't always show problems with the gallbladder. If I'm not better by Monday, I'm going to see a gastroenterologist.