Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Bamboo and Corned beef

It is really hard to find time to write these days. I'm usually just very very tired and cannot write. I am recovered, pretty much, from the BarMitzvah celebrations, and I gotta say It Was Good. It was just such a great weekend... and I'm glad it's over! I was running on fumes there for a while (and a few well-placed glasses of red wine to get me up and dancing at the party! When combined with narcotics, quite successful:))

I have been more in than out these days, really low on energy, but not more pain than usual, and that is great. Yesterday, I actually felt well enough- on 4 hours of sleep- to be explained later- to do a garden project. Turns out the project took me three hours! It came out beautifully. I put up a bamboo fencing where it was desperately needed. It now covers the unsightly gas canisters (natural gas for the stove), and a large part of a fence which was just ugly green wiring. It came out beautifully, and I was so grateful to Gd when I got to step back and look at it! It is night time now, but I'll get a picture of it soon and post it.

Oddly, though, I was on and off nauseous all day. Even at the start of the project, bright and early in the morning. At one point I ran inside because I thought I'd need to throw up, but didn't... not then.

I chalked it up to not sleeping enough. You know how sometimes your stomach is unsettled when you don't get much sleep the night before? I was low on sleep because, well, I never sleep well on the nights Robert sleeps at work. My soul just needs to know he is around, even though it is not logical. He dearly needs that one night a week. His commute is one hour each way (up and down windy roads), and it is brutal to do it at night, then to return the next morning. I can attest to that as well, as I was a commuter of a longer commute before I was married, from Jerusalem to Be'er Sheva while working for the orchestra. Many nights I spent at friends' houses instead of going home. So, I *know* he really really needs that one night. But for whatever reason, I can't get myself to sleep. I feel over-responsibility perhaps, or stress of needing to get up at 6:30. It is only one morning a week, but it is a hard one for me.

But, having said that, I felt great yesterday morning after I got the kids off to school. So great that I wanted to take advantage of the feeling and get to a project. As I said, it took me three hours, but it was a *gorgeous* day, and I enjoyed every minute of it (except for the mild nausea I had). I felt actually exaggeratedly high, like a manic sort of thing.

I carried on my day, and started to feel the exhaustion setting in around 2 or 3. It got bad quickly. A friend I had seen at Dov's orthodontist appointment just a few hours beforehand, when I was well, I asked to please pick up Shifra from her ballet because I was crashing hard and furious. She said she had seen it happening when we were talking the few hours beforehand, and she kindly agreed to bring Shifra home.

I was out when I should have gone straight home. The illness caught me fast and furious. I pulled over and threw up!!! It was AWFUL. Violent and painful. Then, further along the way, I felt another one coming. At that point I had found a bag in the car, and threw up into that! AWFUL again!!! So awfully awful, I don't think you need any more description. Shaking and light headed, I slowly (with emergency lights on) made my way home (I was only 5 minutes away). I went right to bed, of course. Thank Gd for our nanny.

Then a migraine came on. OMG I wanted to die.
The vomiting continued through the night, even when there was just nothing left to come up. I was nauseous even after one finished. I told Robert I need to go to the ER. I was trembling. But, the whole time, I had no fever. I was very dehydrated; any drinking caused another throw-up. I said I thought I needed a fluid infusion, and to get the vomiting under control. We almost went into "going to the ER" mode, but Robert (wisely) decided to wait a little bit before calling someone to come stay with the kids (at 1am). Turned out that although I was still sick, I stopped vomiting for a while. I half slept for a few hours, still with the migraine. I awoke and realized I hadn't taken my medicines yet. I was able to drink them down without throwing up, so that was a good sign.

Turns out I most likely had food poisoning. I had a corned beef sandwich the day before, at almost exactly the same time my throwing up started the next day. It was all from my fridge (not a restaurant), but I didn't look at the freshness date on the corned-beef package. It had been stuck at the backof the fridge because of all the left-overs from the BarMitzvah. Note to all of you- always look at freshness dates. O M G. Robert told me he had food poisoning a few times already (he is the one who tries the things in the fridge that most people would immediately throw away). He told me that the sort of violent throwing up (five minutes each- felt like forever) reminded him of food poisoning, that's why we went in that direction to think of what I had eaten.

Today I have been completely wiped out and so weak. I ate a few peices of toast in late afternoon and have been drinking. Just still shaking (more than my usual tremor) and feeling fragile somehow.

Hopefully I'll be back to normal tomorrow. I can't promise I won't undertake another project, though, if I feel well. I am into beautifying the garden now. Actually, for the whole second half of the day today, I have been sitting in my luxurious basket swing enjoying the air, a cup of tea, and holding court with each child as they came home. I had a few difficult conversations... school is very hard for Ya'akov, Dov got a rejection from a Yeshiva, and I had to be the bearer of the bad news. Shifra came home from a field trip and told me all about it, and Azriel came to sit with me with a book to read (he still enjoys Bob The Builder stories!) and we cuddled in the basket swing. I love this swing. And my kids. :)

OK, putting kids to bed now. I may also put myself to bed, too.
Hoping for more strength tomorrow.

6 comments :

  1. Sarah, I love u so much!!

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  2. Poor you.poisoning is the worst. And yet you still found time and energy to be with your kids!

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  3. I am so sorry you were so sick. I HATE vomiting. I avoid it like the plague. I can't imagine going through what you went through. I hope you are feeling better again tomorrow and that you can *slowly* work on your outdoor projects.

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  4. Sorry to hear what a rough time you've had. Good to know it was food poisoning and not your system going through some major production. Feel good.

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  5. sounds like food poisoning not at all pleasant!!! garlic and chamomile tea to clean out???

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