Am I Dying?

I slept great until about 230am again. Only this time I woke not feeling so well. My gut ached and my stomach felt heavy and perhaps even a bit queasy. I wondered if I might be coming down with the same thing that struck Bella only hours earlier. I tossed and turned frantically trying to get comfortable, but the comfort I sought proved elusive. Fearing that I might be getting sick, I decided to get up and head downstairs where I could throw-up without disturbing the others. At first I laid on the sofa hoping the vague symptoms would dissipate. They never did. In fact, they only worsened.

Not sure the time, but thinking it was near 4am when something prompted me to head to the bathroom. At the time I wasn't sure if I would have diarrhea or needed to vomit, or perhaps even both. I was on my knees for just a minute when that familiar barfy feeling came over me, that point of no return when you realize it's inevitable. It's no longer and if but a when. First comes the watery mouth with an uneasy dreadfully sick feeling rising from the depth of your gut. Immediately I pleaded only that it be quick and nonviolent. I threw up three times in all of about 30-40 seconds. I remained there for a couple more minutes collecting myself until I was convinced that the worst was behind me and I might be able to return to the sofa for some quality sleep.

I fell asleep again quickly feeling much, much better. A short time later I heard the house grow eerily silent. The power went out but only for a brief instant, but still long enough to prompt a reset of the cable box, fridge, and other household appliances. The outage woke Bella too who called to me from her room. Wanted to know if I was sick. She eventually made her way to the family room where I was all stretched out on the sofa asking if I knew why the power went out. I heard her go upstairs and tell her mom that I was sick.

I lost track of time but ended up waking and getting sick once more, I think around 7 or 8am. And this time, even after heaving my guts, I still felt poorly. My guts felt swollen, tight, and crampy, and my stomach still queasy. The only thing I could do to combat the ill feeling was to moan and groan, toss and turn.

What should be considered some sort of blessing, the entire house remained quiet/asleep until after 9am, I believe. Around 840am when it was apparent that I wouldn't be going to work I sent my boss an email indicating as much. I felt truly guilty for calling off but had no choice. There wasn't any way I could go to work.

Mindy and the kids were downstairs and making noise around 9am. Bella shared that she was feeling lot, lots better. And that was after I heard her throwing up again around 8am. Mindy suggested I head up to our room to sleep where it would be much quieter. Convinced that I wouldn't get any sleep otherwise, I took her advice and headed upstairs to bed.

I quickly fell asleep and slept soundly until 12noon. I woke feeling much better. Thought I was over the proverbial hump! I was still achy but void of that sick, queasy feeling. I enjoyed some ice water then dressed for a run. Understand, I had zero energy. None. I ran only to keep my streak alive, knowing when tomorrow comes and I'm feeling better how depressed I'd be if I allowed my streak to end due to a brief ailment. Not only did I not have any energy, but my entire body ached head to toe. I needed to run. I set out near 1215pm.

I knew after the first few hundred yards that it was going to be a tough, grueling run, so I blocked out the temporary pain and instead focused on the outcome, the end goal. That worked to my advantage. Giving myself a little bit of a break, I trimmed the run to just three miles much like a weekend run. I ran up one heck of sweat. It never got easy and boy was I happy when it was over.

Mindy asked how it went as soon as I was back in the door. Grueling, and maybe even one of the toughest run's ever. After stripping out of my sweaty running clothes and back into my PJs I headed upstairs and back to bed where I slept well for almost 3 hours. Upon waking, I noticed immediately that my queasy stomach was gone or minimized. My lower abdomen still ached though. I joined Mindy downstairs, still careful not to overdo it. I had zero appetite, and sipped water only sparingly. Unfortunately, it wasn't too long before I started feeling a little woozy again. I went for the sofa.
The routine household noise proved too much. I eventually headed back to bed for another round of sleep. This time I watched TV from bed and was joined by Eiknarf.

Up around 6pm again, the kids left were off with Jimaken for the night. Mindy was bummed that we weren't headed out for our Jimaken night dinner date, but said she understood. She asked if I was hungry. I wasn't but also knew I needed to eat something. I asked for some chicken noodle soup.
The soup was good and felt good in my belly. I ate much less than I might've had I not been sick and mostly just the broth. Again, I didn't want to overdo it then throw it up later. I laid on the sofa watching TV. I told Mindy that I felt like I had a fever. She took my temperature. Curiously, it was near normal. She said I didn't feel hot either. Hmmm? As the evening wore on I started feeling crappy again, but this time it was mostly body aches, and more pointedly just my gut.

Not sure the time when I headed back to bed but it couldn't have been much later than about 8pm. Mindy asked if I wanted anything. Yes, Advil and water. She offered Gatorade as an option. Yes, that sounded even better. I sipped it slowly, carefully. Next phase came the chills. The body aches got worse too. All I could do was moan and groan. I knew then that I wasn't going to work on Wednesday. No way! No matter how I laid, flipped or contorted my body I just couldn't get comfortable. I felt as though as I was dying. I asked Mindy to rub my head in hopes of falling asleep. She obliged but it worked for only minutes at a time. The body aches were just too intense. The abdominal cramps were the worst. I found that my rubbing my lower back it would take the edge off enough to allow me to sleep for an hour or so at a time. That helped.

I woke again around 2am and headed once more for the sofa. Wasn't sure if I was going to throw up, have diarrhea, or just malinger. I felt like if I pushed on my gut enough gas would burst out to fill at hot air balloon. In fact, I tried hopelessly to push any trap gas from my belly. It didn't work. And really, aside from Gatorade and chicken broth, I had nothing in my stomach or bowels.