Ouch

Well, today didn't quite go as expected. I got up as normal, but noticed when I woke up that my lower abdomen was swollen and was hurting. I just thought after a hot shower and getting ready that I should be ok. I wasn't. On the train ride to work, I felt like my head was hovering over everyone, but this giant painful weight in my stomach was keeping me grounded in the train. It probably sounds more like a bad acid trip than anything.

I went in and got my normal small coffee from Starbucks thinking any liquid would be good for me. The end of the story of this little non-fat white mocha is a sad one. Not a single drop of it was drunk. I decided to go ahead and also get some water and a sandwhich that is basically lettuce and bread at the corner store just to make sure I was getting more than a little bit of non-fat milk and coffee.

I came in feeling even worse than I did on the train. As soon as I entered the school, the regular staff member I see every Monday morning took one look at me and said "Oh, Danica, you don't look so well." I just nodded and rubbed my stomach while explaining the pain in the area. She cocked her head to one side and then with big sympathetic doe eyes simply said "Diarrhea?" Ummm, uhhh, well, uhhh? How does an American answer that? I felt icky saying yes. You see, in Japan, diarrhea is just like having a runny nose. Well, in the sense of saying "I have a runny nose." Saying "I have diarrhea" seems to not phase any Japanese person I've met who have somehow brought it up.
I have a really weird thing about telling someone I have diarrhea. It's just, god, too PERSONAL!
Well, back to the point.

By 1pm, they sent in a sub-stay for me (which meant I could go home if I got worse). Thank god it was Les too. I miss seeing him. About 1:50pm, right after my lesson ended, I had to run to the restroom and basically up came the bready sandwich and water I had tried to drink. Then the severe pain in my stomach had me literally folding over in agony. I stayed in that bathroom for way too long clutching my stomach. When I had enough strength, I told them I was going and thankfully everyone did seem to be sympathetic.

I got home close to 3 and starting feeling even worse than I was at work. But, this time I had to bike home. God, that was the most painful 10 minute bike ride ever. When I took my temperature, I was at 100.4, so I decided to say to hell with it, I'm going to the hospital. The pain was almost unbearable. But, the hard part was finding a place to go and how to get there without having to ride my bike or get on a train again. Thankfully the helpful ladies on the medical line were able to point me to a hospital literally a 15 minute bike ride away from me. I also successfully called a taxi by myself and had them pick me up and drop me off.

The moment I walked into the hospital, I knew I was going to be taken care of. I was of course given the initiative "oh, god it's a white person" look, but in the end it all worked out. When the examination time came, they did checked my stomach and talked to me about my symptoms in full. Because I hadn't kept anything down all day, they decided to throw me on an IV because of the threat of severe dehydration. They also took blood to get a full CBC to check that everything was okay. All it ended up showing was my white blood cells being elevated which wasn't much of a surprise.

This is my first time alone away from home with no one but myself to take care of my health while sick. I came home after all was said and done at the hospital with an even higher fever, but I'm doing my best to keep distracted. My stomach still feels extremely tender, swollen, and painful. It sucks being this sick, but I felt like I could survive in this country by myself now. I called a taxi. I survived a hospital visit. I did it all on my own and even directed the second taxi driver to my house because HE got lost.

This was way too long of a post simply about the stomach flu. It's time for bed and hopefully tomorrow I will be on the road back to feeling better.

I sure could use some of my grandma's homemade soup though. Sigh.