Achy breaky

Spent the last two days away from work recuperating from possibly the worst effect of food poisoning that I ever felt. Used to be able to get through slightly undercooked food or a little less hygiene, resulting in the runs lasting no more than a day and slight dehydration. Usually feels somewhat 'OK' after taking in some isotonic drinks and frequent visits to the toilet.

This time though, my body had to raise the white flag as whatever that caused me to feel so ill was of a degree stronger than ever. Woke up twice in the middle of the night at four and six with a stomach that felt like bottles upon bottles of water was pumped into my mouth whilst sleeping, threatening to escape with the slightest of movement. The cramping was so bad that after morning shower, I decided to let it all out in the most horrible feeling of stomach wrenching ever.

Dried well, they make nice healthy snacks.

I did feel better... for a while. Some of the colleagues who saw me in the morning thought I looked really bad, more so after tracking down sixteen stories down from the office staircase for a fire drill. I was sweating profusely whilst standing outside with them, feeling progressively worst as time passes. Drinking bottles of 100 Plus didn't help either as they only kept me feeling bloated. It was after the second time of retching that I decided to call it in and go home.

Ate nothing for the whole day, just bottles of Gatorade and much resting, drifting between resting the eyes and sleeping as well as some weird dreams usually conjured by the brain during times of distress of such. Woke up at one point around 5:30 pm feeling like the body was on fire, except without the sweating as the immune system turns up the heat to try to cook these pathogens alive.

Posh kid - I didn't even have a thermometer.

Didn't notice how time passed as I woke up around 11:00 pm from the countless sleep-wake-sleep-wake period. The earlier plan to have a meal of vegetable soup for dinner had to be scrapped as the body was still as heaty as five hours earlier and my back were aching from the after effect of fever combined with lethargy.

Things improved slightly the next morning, with the wrenching feeling in the stomach now reduced drastically and the vomiting stopped, replaced by achy limbs and a throbbing headache. Again, I felt 'healthy' enough to resume work only to arrive in the office and feel progressively worst as time passes.

"You look really pale", said Darren who sat to my right. I could only shake my head helplessly when one of the ladies in Software Solutions asked if I was feeling better. Gave up after half an hour and left for home again.

Looked like this 68.3% of the 45 minutes I was in the office.

Spent most of my time lying down and keeping half an eye at the laptop monitor in case all hell breaks loose in the office. With John away with the boss to Korea, it's my job to man both the security and network bit of the infrastructure - thankfully nothing major broke down that could not have been followed up with tomorrow.

As of now, 10:20pm, things have improved greatly from the days of great discomfort. Perhaps, the vegetable soup meal helped greatly considering that it was the first solid meal I had in 36 hours.

Boy, did it tasted divine or what.