![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So the more coherent version of my last post goes as follows:
Shortly after 1am, I began feeling nauseous (in addition to the diarrheal cramps and the bizarre gurgling sensation I'd been fighting since around 3pm, as if something in my guts were actively fermenting or whatever) and simultaneously developed a case of bone-deep chill and full body shakes that lasted, in total, something like 45 minutes -- they were just tapering off when I reached the hospital. And that is WITH two extra-strength Tylenol.
I called 911 and they sent an ambulance, because there was no way in hell I was capable of driving.
I vomited in the ambulance. Pretty much everything I ate since I'd gotten up around 2:30pm came right back up. Not fun in the slightest. Although, in a potentially useful side effect, once I'd cleared everything out of my digestive system from one end or the other, there was nothing left for the diarrheal cramps to keep shoving out. Small backhanded favors!
Anyway, they checked me in at Cayuga Medical Center, I sat in the waiting room for a while (which is when I made my previous post), and then they stuck me on a gurney and waited for a room to open up. The hospital was apparently crazy busy last night, mostly people screwed up on alcohol or other recreational drugs, which I guess is because it's Apple Harvest Fest weekend and people are partying hard. This had the side effect of making people forget I was there for long stretches of time, presumably because I wasn't either belligerently drunk or in immediate danger of death. The nurses always answered the call button, though, and were quite helpful when actually in the room.
Once I got a room, they hooked me up to a blood pressure/heartbeat monitor (apparently mine were too high), and put me on a saline drip (to counter dehydration) that also included some fever reducers because surprise surprise, I was still running a mild fever. Later I got a second IV drip plus an anti-nausea shot, and I asked for the bed to be lowered completely flat so I was able to get an hour or so of uneasy sleep. (Previously I'd been watching a documentary on lucha libre, or Mexican masked wrestling, to distract myself from the way my lower back was screaming in pain. There are reasons I sleep with a single extremely flat pillow and find people who construct pillow barricades utterly baffling. But I am way off topic now, so! Moving on.)
The upshot is that this seems to be a nasty viral thing that's been going around Ithaca. Half the hospital staff have already had it and another third are currently home sick with basically the same thing, just not quite as severe as my case. I hit the bad luck lottery or something. :-/
I am now home (after a small misadventure with a taxi pickup) and in possession of a prescription for some anti-nausea medication that I will try to get filled later today once my local pharmacy opens. I also took 600mg of ibuprofen for continuing fever symptoms as directed by the nurse, am risking some bread and gingerale because I am starving, and will shortly be going to bed because I AM EXHAUSTED.
I am also under strict orders to not go into work today under any circumstances, and if I don't feel better by this evening, not to go in tomorrow either. I am pretty sure I will have to go in tomorrow regardless, since AS is not yet satisfactorily trained in closing and also I think I am the person scheduled to do afternoon cashup, but I am going to cross my fingers and think unrealistically positive thoughts about my likely recovery time. *resolve face*
And now to bed.
Shortly after 1am, I began feeling nauseous (in addition to the diarrheal cramps and the bizarre gurgling sensation I'd been fighting since around 3pm, as if something in my guts were actively fermenting or whatever) and simultaneously developed a case of bone-deep chill and full body shakes that lasted, in total, something like 45 minutes -- they were just tapering off when I reached the hospital. And that is WITH two extra-strength Tylenol.
I called 911 and they sent an ambulance, because there was no way in hell I was capable of driving.
I vomited in the ambulance. Pretty much everything I ate since I'd gotten up around 2:30pm came right back up. Not fun in the slightest. Although, in a potentially useful side effect, once I'd cleared everything out of my digestive system from one end or the other, there was nothing left for the diarrheal cramps to keep shoving out. Small backhanded favors!
Anyway, they checked me in at Cayuga Medical Center, I sat in the waiting room for a while (which is when I made my previous post), and then they stuck me on a gurney and waited for a room to open up. The hospital was apparently crazy busy last night, mostly people screwed up on alcohol or other recreational drugs, which I guess is because it's Apple Harvest Fest weekend and people are partying hard. This had the side effect of making people forget I was there for long stretches of time, presumably because I wasn't either belligerently drunk or in immediate danger of death. The nurses always answered the call button, though, and were quite helpful when actually in the room.
Once I got a room, they hooked me up to a blood pressure/heartbeat monitor (apparently mine were too high), and put me on a saline drip (to counter dehydration) that also included some fever reducers because surprise surprise, I was still running a mild fever. Later I got a second IV drip plus an anti-nausea shot, and I asked for the bed to be lowered completely flat so I was able to get an hour or so of uneasy sleep. (Previously I'd been watching a documentary on lucha libre, or Mexican masked wrestling, to distract myself from the way my lower back was screaming in pain. There are reasons I sleep with a single extremely flat pillow and find people who construct pillow barricades utterly baffling. But I am way off topic now, so! Moving on.)
The upshot is that this seems to be a nasty viral thing that's been going around Ithaca. Half the hospital staff have already had it and another third are currently home sick with basically the same thing, just not quite as severe as my case. I hit the bad luck lottery or something. :-/
I am now home (after a small misadventure with a taxi pickup) and in possession of a prescription for some anti-nausea medication that I will try to get filled later today once my local pharmacy opens. I also took 600mg of ibuprofen for continuing fever symptoms as directed by the nurse, am risking some bread and gingerale because I am starving, and will shortly be going to bed because I AM EXHAUSTED.
I am also under strict orders to not go into work today under any circumstances, and if I don't feel better by this evening, not to go in tomorrow either. I am pretty sure I will have to go in tomorrow regardless, since AS is not yet satisfactorily trained in closing and also I think I am the person scheduled to do afternoon cashup, but I am going to cross my fingers and think unrealistically positive thoughts about my likely recovery time. *resolve face*
And now to bed.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-29 12:02 pm (UTC)*HUGHUGHUG* auuuuugh. YES REST IS GOOD. D: *frets argh too far away to hover argh*
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 02:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-29 12:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 02:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-29 12:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 02:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-29 01:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 02:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-29 02:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 02:46 am (UTC)I cannot actually remember ever being sicker than this. I have had worse fevers and I have had worse nausea, but never both at once and certainly not ALSO with diarrhea. The only saving grace was that I didn't get any respiratory problems on top of everything else. :-/
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-29 04:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 02:49 am (UTC)It took me a bit to get to sleep Saturday night, but once I did I slept excellently. Clearly the good thoughts worked. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 02:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-29 12:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-30 03:36 am (UTC)The human body can be pretty disgusting when it goes wrong.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-29 12:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-30 03:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-29 01:12 pm (UTC)This is not what I expected, sheese.
please feel better soon. I am sending good thoughts your way, dear.
And, is the owner of the smoke shop in Ithaca?
Also, here is an essay you may find interesting.
http://issendai.livejournal.com/572510.html#cutid1
The writer is prolific in this subject.
You seem happy at this job, however, when one has been at the hospital, quite ill, and the
major thought is that you can't miss work because there is no one else that can keep the
place from crashing....
Please concentrate on you today.
c
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 03:38 am (UTC)(It's not a situation where there's nobody else who can keep the place from crashing. I know perfectly well that if I go away on vacation, stuff still gets done -- maybe not up to my personal standards in some areas, but whatever, it's good enough. But the thing about running a store is that somebody has to physically BE THERE to run the store. And we literally did not have anyone else who was available for the necessary hours today. JM can't work afternoons because of her childcare situation, MS was trapped at home because her parents are her only transportation and they insisted she attend a family thing, PM was out of town, BW was already working an eight-hour shift, and AS couldn't come in until midway through the afternoon because of HIS childcare situation. So basically I had to show up. It sucks, and is a perfect illustration of why we need one more part-time employee, so we will have more flexibility when a whole bunch of things go wrong at the same time.)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-29 02:18 pm (UTC)As a veteran of retail I say when you get this sick, you're off until Monday - aside from you having to, you know, get better, you don't want to give this virus to anyone else. Someone else will have to cover! They can and SHOULD do that!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-30 04:12 am (UTC)Really MS should be covering for me, but A) she is dependent on her family for transportation and they are... weird about family obligations vs. work obligations -- like, I think they fail to understand our scheduling requirements on a visceral level, and B) she is way too easily overstressed and also still in a long-simmering feud with BW so basically I do not want to have a screaming fight with her and will just explain the mess to PM when she gets back from her post-surgery mini-vacation and let her deal with it. *sigh*
Also I will pray for another new employee and get more serious about my attempt to go back to college. Because things were fine until PB and RE left -- any problems were one-off bad days or me being a dumbass and not getting enough sleep because the internet was being seductive -- but if we can't get a second replacement employee, this is just getting ridiculously awful and I will have to find a different job. Which is amazingly hard to do without a trained monkey paper, so. *deeper sigh*
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-29 03:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-30 04:18 am (UTC)We need a second new employee.
Well, that or I need to find a new job and screw it, MS can just deal with trying to replace me. See how she likes what that does to her (stupid, limited, part-time) hours. *is petty and grumpy right now*
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 02:47 am (UTC)At any rate, whatever it was, glad you're on the mend from it!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 03:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 07:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-02 04:09 am (UTC)