An anniversary we won’t soon forget

Coming home from a 7-day work trip is hard on everyone. Hard for the parent coming home and hard for the parent who has been handling the home. This time I was the one gone and Bryan was wrangling the boys. Of course Maximus spent the first Monday home sick. 😥

We had big plans for my reentry. A football game on Saturday and anniversary afternoon/evening on Monday. It was a great plan until I got sick. With E.Coli. Not a great thing to bring home from a trip. And not a great way to spend a week. Our anniversary plans were cancelled so Bryan could take me to the doctor. We didn’t know it, but the “excitement” was just beginning. After a very painful hour wait, the doctor told me he had to send tests in and wouldn’t give me any medicine until he knew if there was something toxic in my system. Basically, if it was toxic he didn’t want to stop the way my body was getting rid of it. I waited two days for the test results. It was an awful two days. Looking back, we both agreed that I probably should have gone to the ER. But I was told to go in if I had three symptoms and I never had a fever. Just two out of three. 😁

On Wednesday I got a call that it was toxic but they didn’t know what. They gave me an antibiotic to take for five days. It caused immense stomach pain in a different way than I was already having. But on day two I was able to look at my phone without getting dizzy, sit up, and have general thoughts.

On Friday I got a call that it was E.Coli. Either from uncooked food or from an infected person “leaving” behind their grossness. Since I was in a giant hotel for a week, it’s about 50-50 on where it came from. And that grosses me out completely. PEOPLE, WASH YOUR HANDS! It doesn’t matter if I was mine if someone else leaves behind gross things for my clean hands to pick up.

I’ve finished my meds and am going back to work tomorrow. I’ve cleaned my bathroom and washed my sheets. I’ve washed my hands at least 500 times in the last week and I haven’t touched any food that wasn’t handed to me. I finally feel 100% and can stomach the idea of almost all foods. I lost five pounds in four days. I didn’t sleep longer than 45 minutes at a time for two days. I didn’t eat anything for four days and could barely drink anything for at least two.

I can say without a doubt that Bryan and I won’t ever forget our 7th wedding anniversary. We thought having babies and breaking feet were our “through sickness” part. Turns out E.Coli takes the trophy. He’s a great care taker. Even when the boys were both screaming and the dog was barking, he was in my room giving me sips of water. He’s definitely a keeper! And now we need a redo on our anniversary. One where I can eat food and we can be normal.