Campylobacter!!!

YAY!  Today was my first day back in the land of the living.  I actually slept through the night.  I was surprised at that because I had HORRIBLE gas all day yesterday. OMG- it was BAD!  And the abdominal cramps got worse all day.  Normally, when I lie on my back my tummy caves in- yesterday it was all bloated up about an inch and a half- yuck!  And the night before- well...  I kept count and it was about 26 trips to the bathroom in 18 hours and my room smelled like something died in here.  No wonder I couldn't sleep.  So I looked up my symptoms and I think I got Campylobacter from some undercooked chicken eaten about 36 hours before my first inkling of a fever thinking about starting.

Remember when I woke up with a headache on Sunday and decided to go do laundry at 0530?  Then about 3 hours later my skin was sensitive?  Really tired and crummy feeling all day.  Joints achy.  Feverish.  Next day- diarrhea!  Still fevering, sweating (soaking the bed sheets), headache.  Next day (yesterday)- I was the Hindenberg with all that gas.  Today, back to normal except lightheaded due to late dehydration.  Drank 2L of water and POOF!  I'm back to my normal self.  

Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in the US, caused by undercooked poultry in most cases.  (way better than getting cholera in a third world country and getting what they call "rice water stools"- yuck!  Of course, I AM in a third world country, but our food is American.)  My chicken was a bit pink and my friends warned me......but I said- NO PROBLEM!  I have a third world stomach- I can eat anything!  I actually said that.  I HAVE eaten anything- bugs (cooked and raw), snakes, all kinds animals, fish eyes, balut (look it up- you'll barf).  Never ever ever had a problem.  Well...leave it to our DFAC to burn the crap out of a perfectly good steak and under cook chicken.  This was not my first piece of pink chicken in the last 6 weeks.  And they have no idea how to boil an egg either.  You'd think dropping an egg into boiling water for 12 minutes and then TAKING IT OUT would not be that hard.  I don't know what they do, but after they do it the eggs sit in the hot water on the serving line for who knows how long and they are impossible to peel.  We have left Easter eggs out for days, so I'm pretty sure they could leave them out for a couple of hours without killing us.  I thought I could eat pink chicken, too, I guess.

Anyhow, I survived to look up my disease.

Then I got a massage today (rescheduled from 2 days ago)- it was wonderful.  From a nice young girl named Olga who told me to take every thing off but my underwear...  It's now nearly midnight- so that will have to wait for another day.  It's a funny story, though- stay tuned.