Gastroenteritis

That's what I was told I had after visiting the ER last night... or should I say early this morning.

I started having a stomach ache in the afternoon... nothing huge, but enough for me to boycott cooking. Right around 9ish, it started hurting so bad.... like Hurts Like HELL bad. I was moaning in bed... literally moaning. In some weird way my chanting made it seem not as bad. Now, I consider myself as someone who has a fairly high tolerance for pain. I NEVER go to the doctor... so for me to go the ER means that my stomach was killing me!

Jonathan finally convinced me to go... after he started diagnosing me with symptoms from a snake bite to appendicitis. Hmmm.... so around 11:30, we woke up my neighbor Tara to come over and stay with Zoe while we went. We also called my mom to come over and relieve Tara (it had to be my mom, even though Jonathan's mom is slightly closer - because, dude, I want my mommy!). Right before we were leaving the house, I puked in the sink. Hmmm... perhaps not appendicitis and maybe the flu, and if the latter then I'm going to feel like a big baby for going to the ER for the flu.

When we get there, at first we of course reminisced about our last experience there... Short version: We were there the night before the first day of school in 2005 and I was pregnant with Zoe. Jonathan banged his head really bad. Some guy came in after us dripping blood from either his arm or leg... blood dripped all the way from the entrance to the sign in desk. The blood stayed there for at least 25 minutes. We complained, we shooed kids away from it, etc. Finally, a lady comes to mop it up by fails to put a wet floor sign at one end... there was one at the main entrance, but not by the sign in desk which is also where patients go in/out of the ER. A lady came out with her husband, slipped, broke her ankle and started screaming at the top of her lungs. When I say broken, I mean bending the wrong way. Ick. They come and rush the couple back in after putting the woman on a stretcher... We had already been sitting for about 2 hours, so this was somewhat entertaining. Jonathan, being the Good Samaritan that he is, gives the husband his card and says he saw the whole thing and is willing to be a witness if needed. We left shortly after that without being seen. Two years later, Jonathan was still in the process of being interviewed and questioned about the hospital episode. Turns out he was their only "real" witness, and the hospital was trying to cover the butts with fake pictures and false statements. Finally, the couple won like $10,000 from the hospital or something... and Jonathan was never thanked! Rude!

Anyway... we get in, get signed in and all that. As I'm waiting, my stomach starts hurting really bad again and I double over and start my chants again... poor Jonathan. I'm sure I looked and sounded like some crazy lunatic. After getting in to an exam room, I puke again... they give me anti-nausea medicine and then I feel almost good. Pain went from a 10 to a 1. Wowsers! The doctor told me I had some kind of infection in my blood, a virus called Gastroenteritis, and prescribed an antibiotic and anti-nausea medicine. We leave, and as we are walking to the car I read the info sheet about Gastroenteritis. It's also known as the stomach flu (however, to give me some credit, read about it and it's not the normal stomach flu).