Photo from Mount Royal, Frisco, Colorado.

"That is happiness; to be disolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." - Willa Cather

Saturday 2 February 2013

staph aureus + soup crossed off bucket list

Having a so called bucket list has always been anathema to me. And when I learned there was a movie called "The Bucket List", it irked me. (I never saw it. Maybe it was awesome.)

I think SR put his finger on why it bothers me when he said. "You mention a European country to an American and the first thing they usually say is "I've been there", you know, "I've been to Poland" as in ... "been there, done that, crossed off the bucket list, no use saying any more" type thing. Anyway, I've never found any reason to cross things off. But I am willing to make an exception for Staph Aureus food poisoning.

Working in the Urgent Care, I saw enough patients with severe food poisoning, that I had always been just 1% curious what that must be like to experience it. Now I know.

I will never again leave soup with cream in it out overnight and then eat it again --- four days later.

I spent Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday puking up every single thing that went into my mouth and watching air build up in my intestines as I became more and more constipated. These symptoms led me to the staph diagnosis. Since no one else got sick and no one else had dared eat the soup, the fact that it was food poisoning was pretty obvious.
My gas baby had been gestating for 4 days coincident with Cherelli birthing a real baby girl.
Charlie Kaye

Aw.

In the face of the illness, I was okay not running... for two days. But in this time of frustrating uncertainty about which country we are going to live in 6 months from now and what on earth our next jobs will be, I cling to my training plan like a wooby. I switched my schedule from Ole around so my two rest days were in a row and on Wednesday went out to run 8km in 37:20 (I puked at least 10 times WHILE runing and my body was shaking and sweating uncharacteristically). It felt. terrible. And my shirt was covered in puke. (I should probably mention I was not on the treadmill) The next day was supposed to be 18 km at the same pace, but I had to cut it short after 13 km in 61: (in extreme gusting winds!) because I was leaning back so much due to my big gas belly that I started irritating my hip. Plus it was still simply torture to be running. I wrote Ole and he ajusted the training plan.

Today was better. And now I remember why it is I normally love running:

 2 x 4 km in 15:51 and 15:50 with a 3 min rest (treadmill 0.5%).

It felt terrible at the time to get food poisoning, but feeling like I might die for a couple days really helped me (if only temporarily) put things into perspective. I had my beautiful boys to hug and that was what mattered. And my life and health a safety. It is strange, though, how as soon as I started feeling better again, I went back to being my greedy old self.

I will leave you with this thought: Do we as humans really ever learn anything more than how to make our lives more pleasant and convenient? (and do we need to learn more than that?)

And another question: How often do you use shampoo (in your hair)?

Give me a moment to contemplate the running song of the day - I know I have something good to recommend...


7 comments:

SteveQ said...

"Maybe I shouldn't have eaten that packet of powdered gravy I found in the parking lot." - Homer Simpson. Odd that you chose which organism caused the food poisoning... Norovirus is spreading here, causing widespread "puking into a bucket (listing)."

sea legs girl said...

Good point about me "choosing" the organism. I mean, of course I can't be 100% sure. I didn't go so far as to plate it out, but I seriously considered it. The thing is, the symptoms and timing and suspected source all fit so well, that I had little doubt. But new or rare bacteria can always crop up that mimic our old favorites. :o).

cherelli said...

Oh you look like a malnourished orphan, yowch! How you can get up and push yourself through workouts like that afterwards (puking and all) is, well, probably beyond me...but thanks for including a pic of my little girl. I'm not into bucket lists either I don't think, i like to see what opportunities come along and just go with it. Staph will not be on mine though either, thanks for the recommendation :)

mmmonyka said...

I use shampoo every single time i take a shower. Which is pretty much every day with occasional exceptions.

Running when you are puking/ir feel like it sucks. Couple weeks ago i ate chilli with undercooked beans and i felt awful. I did not puke but i felt like i was going to any moment. I too cut my run short that day because i just felt awful.

About that convenience and pleasant life... What would be the point of being alive if our life was not convenient and pleasant? I doubt humans are here (on Earth i mean) to make the life pleasant for non-human creatures. Actually i do not believe that anything/anyone is here because of some higher purpose. We are here, just like that, to live for a few yeats and then we die. So i think that it makes sense to try to spend those years we live as comfortable and pleasantly as possible:)
Now if you are talking about sacrificing someones elses comfort for our own, well yes we do that. We are all selfish assholes. But only because as i said there is really nothing else to do just to enjoy life before we die. Although some people really go to extremes, like for example killing the others for money or things like that. But thats not really human nature, its just certain individuals who go that far.

Btw, i saw the movie Bucket list and did not like it. I found it quite boring.

PiccolaPineCone said...

I'm going to come right out and admit that I only shampoo my hair about once every 6-8 days. when my hair is clean, it is impossible to manage... it is only when it is slightly, um, weighted down by the deposits of life that it becomes more manageable.

i officially nominate monika for comment of the year in that last pondering on convenience and th pleasantness of life. m - you tell it like it is and i like it.

Kirsten said...

What a pleasure it must be to train with you - either puking or shitting yourself..... ;-)
Life? Totally agree with monyka!
And shampoo in the hair?
As seldom as possible, my hair is too long and it's a real bother. I hate shampooing my hair! Guess average twice a week or every 4-5 days, depending on my training.

Alicia Hudelson said...

I hate the bucket list thing too, and I think it's partly because of how SR described it and partly because those lists are always the same--if the things on the list truly meant anything to the person making the list, they would be unique, but it's always "skydiving," "go to Venice" etc. Ewww.

I feel your pain on the gas baby thing. I have some unknown nasty illness, possibly pneumonia, and I have gone from fit to four months pregnant in just a few short days. Hopefully we both give birth soon and get back to normal!