Yep. Monday of last week I spent about 5.5 hours in the Emergency Room. Here’s the details.
Sunday (the previous day), we went to Shakey’s Pizza after church and got lunch. There were a few chicken wings left and a couple slices of pizza. So, many hours later, guess what we had for dinner? Yep. Please understand that said leftovers were sitting in a plastic bag unrefrigerated for the entire time that lapsed from lunch to dinner. I tried to tell her this was a bad idea but …
By the next day, Montezuma’s Philippine equivalent was having his revenge on me. I was doing the “bottom blow” with much frequency. Over-the-counter remedies were not working. My girl decided to whisk me away to the nearest hospital.
Folks, it was not going to the hospital that bothered me, it was the relative unavailability of public toilets between here and there that caused me the most concern. As mentioned in a previous blog post, toilets here are difficult to find while on the road and notoriously filthy by American standards if you do happen to find one.
Anyway, we got to the hospital without incident and then the fun started. My girl had to explain why I was there and what we expected from the crew in the emergency room. After much discussion in the local dialect, I was asked to submit payment of 7,700 pesos (~$128) for lab work. The time stamp on my payment receipt was 6:20 AM.
I was then placed in a curtained-off area that I was sharing with about 5 other people. I experienced a blood-draw from my left arm, near the elbow. I was then given an IV needle in the top of my right-hand, this was followed by two medications being injected. The first was no big deal but the second one burned while going into my hand. I was given two small disposable plastic cups with lids and sent to a bathroom. The doctors wanted samples of #1 and #2. After the first bathroom trip, I was hooked up to a bottle of saline solution. I was attached to this bottle for the duration of my stay.
My girl’s oldest sister and husband came to the hospital to check on me. They stayed for at least an hour. It was nice to see them although I didn’t think I was sick enough to justify the visit.
Having some fluids pumped into you is usually part of the solution to food poisoning as dehydration is the biggest immediate risk. The labs finally came back in good shape. I was cleared of a bacterial infection from some of the data that was retrieved. This eventually led to me being sent to my hotel for further recovery.
By the next day, I was better but then ate something else that was disagreeable. We implemented the doctor’s discharge orders and a battery of over-the-counter stuff. RC Flora apparently comes in two different solutions or potencies or something like that. She found the stronger stuff at 96 pesos per vial. I chugged some of that and some pills and some other stuff that was mixed with drinking water. A day later, I was better but more cautious.
That night or the next, five of us decided to eat at a local dive. Having been sick twice within a few days, I was cautious about eating at this place. The other five were picking out mystery meat on a stick to have cooked (think BBQ) and then served. Said meat was in a tidy display case that kept the insects out, but … said meat was not refrigerated. It was just sitting there all day long until some adventurous folks like our party decided to eat said stuff. Once I figured out that nothing was refrigerated, I took a hard pass on ordering anything. It was the right choice.
After a hospital visit, my girl is much more considerate of my comparatively fussy bowels.
We did stop Saturday night at a different local place; much of the stuff there was in display cases and iced so I took the risk and agreed to dine there. It was good food. I didn’t suffer any ill effects from the food and enjoyed my meal.
Folks, I know I will have a few bouts of food poisoning while in this part of the world. It’s just part of the experience. It’s one reason my stay is so long, I know I will be out of commission a couple of times while here. I’m still glad that I came for a visit.
I have no idea whether my weight is up, down, or the same. I only know that my blood sugar is staying low while breaking many of the practices that I follow at home. Hopefully, I can avoid food poisoning again. At least I know that a medical emergency won’t bankrupt me if it happens again.
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