Thanksgiving was CANCELLED.

Sorry....I see it was the night before getting sick that I last posted.

On the 14th I felt okay....ish. Early morning of the 15th- I suddenly felt like I was going to throw up....after forcing myself to do a few necessary errands- I came home and went straight to bed....and remained there with projectile vomiting,  (sorry for the following description but there's no other way to say it) explosive diarrhea, horrible stomach cramping and an on and off fever. For three days I didn't get out of bed except to run to the bathroom and I honestly don't remember much of the weekend at all.

Monday morning, I was no better, so instead of going to my job, I called off work and called my doctor for an emergency appointment. None to be had- they said I would need to try again the following morning...I said no way.
So I took a taxi to my nearest hospital walk in centre.....Manchester Royal Infirmary.

They examined me- did a urine sample- and brought me directly to the A & E(Accident & Emergency) for admission.....they brought me to an isolation room and hooked me up to an IV drip. That was at 10:30AM.........at 8PM they came in and informed me that I wasn't hydrating sufficiently and as I couldn't keep food or water down they were admitting me to the hospital proper and would be going upstairs to a real bed in short order.......
I finally made it up there to a ward at 10:30 PM. I was on a ward for exactly 3 minutes 45 seconds. The nurse came in- looked at my chart- and practically RAN out of the room. 30 seconds later- they are whisking me down the hallway to the end of the corridor to an isolation room.  One of the ones with two sets of doors- with a scrub station and gloves and bio hazard suits.
I was so sick it didn't really register at the time...but a few days later it clicked from a comment the doctor made while in the in between station that I probably wasn't meant to hear.
They actually thought it might be Ebola when I was first admitted.
Luckily it wasn't...but it was a really nasty gastro-intestinal infection.
I was hospitalised in the isolation room for three days- then moved downstairs to yet another isolation room for another two days. During that time I went thru 4 or 5 bags of IV fluids a day. My veins kept collapsing and they had to move the IV needle 7 times in the first 4 days. I lost a stone...(14 lbs). I had to be injected every day with a medication into my stomach to keep me from getting blood clots. My arms and hands and stomach had huge bruises on them...I looked like a junkie that had been beaten it was so bad.
Then the doctor came in and informed me they had finally been able to identify what the problem was. Unfortunately- or fortunately- the worst of it was over at that point and the rest was just that...rest and recuperation for a further 7-10 days.....until the symptoms had disappeared completely for 48 hours.

They gave me my meds and a doctors note-(eventually)...I called my husband- and we came home. But the coming home was provisional.
I had to pretty much stay either in bed- or on the sofa. No gadding about......no going out in public at ALL until 48 hours after the symptoms abated...and no work til then either. I had to eat regularly, and most importantly, I had to drink and stay hydrated. water, juice, coffee, tea, milk(altho they cautioned me to go easy on the milk as long as I still had symptoms)- it didn't matter- just fluids, fluids, fluids......So I did as the doctor ordered and was finally allowed to come back to work on December 1st.

So we had to cancel our big Thanksgiving Celebration Dinner we had planned.

I'm back to about 80% until about 11AM....then it goes down to about 65% for the rest of the day. This week, I've come home every afternoon and taken a nap....Monday it was a two and a half hour nap- Tuesday it was an hour and a half- today it was an hour and 15 minutes.
So things are looking up- but I'm thinking its going to be around the first of the year before I'm close to 100% again.
Hubby's Parents have invited us to their house for Christmas Dinner, so that means I won't have to worry about cooking a big Christmas meal either- altho I do plan on bringing something yummy to contribute to the Christmas Dinner.
Bless my husband who has taken wonderful care of me during my convalescence and barely let me lift a finger to do anything...He has cooked- cleaned,  and whatever needed doing to get me well.

I learned a few lessons along the way...but for now- this is going to have to be it for the blog post.
I'm exhausted again.

So Good Night- and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!!