Another Flu?? Really??

I think my last post had me talking about the regular ol' flu. And that took a good three weeks to get over. And then, hello February, what ya got? How about the stomach flu?

On Monday evening, after dinner at the Texas Chili Parlor and some follow-up yogurt at home, I started getting this bloating sensation in my stomach. I've had light versions of this before, so I took some antacid tablets and thought it would pass (ha ha). It did not. Instead, when I woke up Tuesday, I felt like I'd swallowed a watermelon, and a watermelon that wasn't breaking down. Still, I wasn't nauseous at all and bathroom deposits were normal, so again, I thought I had some weird gas issue. I felt just poorly enough to take the day off work and napped some, especially once I found out others in the Hickoids were ill and we were going to cancel rehearsal anyway.

By Wednesday, nothing had changed. I had even eaten a chicken burger Michelle brought me after she got off work, and again, no nausea. No change in the bathroom. Later Wednesday, the bloating became painful, mostly from pressure, but sometimes sharper. I made dinner that night (unbelievably, I think now), and we ate, and I thought I was fine after that. I even went to Walgreen's to pick up some Gas X to try. But later, even more discomfort, and I called an after hours nurse at ARC to see what they thought. They thought I should come in the next morning, which I did...the office in Buda. The DO I saw seemed pretty thorough in patting me down, etc. and said, yes, stomach flu, or gastroenteritis. And there wasn't anything I could do about it. Just wait. He said I should get some Pepcid and try some probiotics, both of which I acquired. He had some paperwork, which I should have read better before I took the next steps.

Keep in mind, I hadn't had any nausea yet, and the DO had said as long as I stayed away from dairy, I would probably be okay. Well, when I ran to HEB to get the Pepcid, etc., I picked up a donut (why not?), and figured I'd eat some oatmeal when I got home. The oatmeal was strawberries & cream....hey, Lance! What is cream again? Hoo boy.

By Thursday afternoon, I was a mess. Still not really nauseous, but uncomfortable in the extreme. The only way I could not be moaning in pain was to lie propped up in bed; for some reason that position seemed to work okay. So I fixed my CPAP mask to sleep that way (I normally sleep on my side) and was able to get some fitful sleep in that position. By nighttime, I was feeling a little something finally...something in the way of nausea....not much, but maybe...

After two trips, I had managed to expel the oatmeal and the donut and instantly felt a bit better. Not great, but anything would have been an improvement. Another hour later, and I was able to sleep normally again, and I slept all night. I woke up feeling much, much better, although I'm taking little baby steps now. Nothing but water for awhile. Just a bit ago, I had a piece of unbuttered toast and a few pretzel sticks. And just now, I had some Velitta biscuits. So far, so good.

We had to cancel our Valentine's Day dinner tonight due to all this. I'm bummed about that. But we'll make that up soon enough. Here's hoping your Valentine's Day week was much better than mine, and as I said late last night, I'm glad I was able to get all this out.