Health update

My last couple of weeks have been rough.

On Friday, March 28th I had two couchsurfers from New Caledonia staying with me, Thierry and Eugenie. They, Dylan, and I went to dinner at a vegetarian buffet. We all ate pretty much the same things, except that I also had plain white rice and they didn't.

Around midnight I woke up with pain in the pit of my stomach. I went to the bathroom, where I spent the majority of the next six hours vomiting and having diarrhea. Something was in my body that needed to get out.

The bathroom is right off the living room where Thierry and Eugenie were sleeping, so this was quite an uncomfortable situation. However, I was so sick and weak from all that vomiting that I couldn't care much. I probably got one hour of restless sleep that night.

The next morning Thierry asked if I needed to go to the hospital. I told him if I vomited again, then yes I would go. However, after around 6am I no longer threw up; however, I still had the diarrhea.

Dylan took the couchsurfers out to entertain them while I rested at home. I managed to get a little sleep, but I kept waking up because of the constant diarrhea. And man, did my throat burn from all that stomach acid coming up.

Dylan and the surfers came back in the late afternoon. I thought that I was improving. After eating some toast, however, I started vomiting again so I decided I needed to go to the hospital since I was very weak and suspected that I was getting dehydrated. The surfers, who had rented a car, took Dylan and I to the hospital because Dylan had drunk some alcohol during their outing and didn't want to risk driving.

I was so weak and dizzy by this point that the hospital visit is kind of a blur. They hooked me up to an IV and administered medicine and fluids. At the beginning I really didn't care if I died or not (although I wasn't close to dying), but after a couple of hours my energy came back and I left the hospital with a three-day prescription.

On Sunday Thierry and Eugenie left, then later that day Catherine and Juno arrived, a couchsurfing couple from China. I was still weak and only eating toast, rice, and sports drinks, and I still had the diarrhea, but thankfully no more vomiting. I figured my body would adjust itself by the time I left for my mini vacation on Thursday.

Thursday I went to Taoyuan, where a group of friends and I would leave for Malaysia on Friday morning. I had much more energy, but still had watery diarrhea. My appetite had come back, and since I was now on vacation I didn't eat as lightly as I should have.

I enjoyed Malaysia very much, despite my stomach issues. However, Monday night after coming home, I again suffered from terrible stomach pain during the night, which finally eased enough to go to sleep after an hour of passing nothing but water through my bowels. I think not being careful with what I ate in Malaysia was the culprit.

So by today, Tuesday morning, I've had watery diarrhea for ten days, as well as mild to sharp pain in my mid-gut almost every time I eat. Later today Dylan will take me to the doctor, where I pray I'll find the means to start feeling normal again.