10:55 PM - 20.12.04
Whoops
I bet you guessed what happened to me yesterday - right dear diary? Went downstairs first thing in the morning to collect the dirty dishes and run the laundry produced by the sickies in the house. Within half an hour I was vomiting with the best of them. I thought at first it might have been food poisoning from the mussels I had with my Dad the day before, because they are notorious for that but it had already been 18 hours. Had to accept that the most likely reason was the flu. Used all the "tricks" I've learned over time to shorten the length of recovery time given what other people have said about the toll it takes on them. I can't afford to lose that much time away from work. First up tried the spoonful of sugar thing. My Mom and Grandmother said it "sweetened the stomach". What I know is that it stops the worst of the heaves and settles the stomach enough so you can sleep. That worked. Then I added the gingerale with a stress tab - Vitamin B combination and calcium tablet chaser. Helps rebalance the electrolytes and addresses the dehydration that is one of the worst aspects of the flu - at least from my perspective. Slept a few more hours. Got up repeated step to and went back to bed for the balance of the day and night.
When I got up this morning I thought I had it beat. Showered dressed and made it to the bus stop on time. Cold brisk air helpe get rid of the wobbly feeling I had so I thought I was good to go. Not. Made it to the fourth stop and managed to get off the bus before I lost my diginity and the last bit of my stomach's contents. Fortunately all I had eaten before I got sick yesterday was an apple and a couple of mandarin oranges so there wasn't much left to lose. The bus driver hesitated when he saw me heading for the door but there wasn't anything he could help with given he had a busload of people to get to the train station.
That fourth stop is the last one just before the freeway located in the light industrial park that is to the west of our communities. When we raised the funds to build the recreational park in that area we negotiated an agreement with the city so that there would be architectural controls on every business building in that region that would be compatible with park use. This high tech manufacturing company far exceeded our expectations including a small lake with fountains, flower beds, and trees. Lots of green space too with a soccer pitch and bike path included. Good corporate citizens.
I really wasn't thinking clearly by the time I got off the bus but I made a good choice I think. The plant uns 24/7 so there is always someone around the building. At that time of the day there is a bus coming or going every 5 to 10 minutes. I could have tried to get on the return bus, I guess, but decided that that might be disasterous where my stomach was concerned. Started walking across the park. No sn, no ice - it's been unusually warm this month - so walking wasn't difficult. The greatest danger was that there is no street lighting. At this time of the year the only light was from the half moon and that wasn't much to steer by. Good thing I know my way around there so well. Crossing the one major road was quite a trick though because I couldn't trust that the workers heading in for the day would see me. Finally got out of the park and called my supervisor on my cell phone to let him know that I wouldn't be in today. I had some trouble making myself understood but I think he finally got the gist of the problem. Didn't really matter at that point since I didn't have any other options. Continued walking the four or so blocks left toward home - slowly. The last block seemed to take forever, it was about one hour after I had left the house I think. So that's my story and I think I'll heaad to bed now hopefully so I can get on a bus tomorrow. Good night dear diary.
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