Oh for crying out loud!

Today I woke up and turned over and bed and thought, "Aw, crikey." I think a dreaded stomach bug is on the prowl. Yes, ladies and gentleman, it IS possible for me to go the bathroom more times during the day than before (I should store this information for future use). I've been three times in 15 minutes and, lucky me, just ran out of toilet paper! Hello chicken soup from last night...I can feel the temperature rising, the vomitus lapping at my gastroesophageal sphincter, the overall impending doom...man...what a downer!

poor baby, you don't have time for this!

Luckily I don't have an exam until Monday...but I'll be missing out on a lecture on the development of the urogenital system, poor me.

I vomited three times so far and had D more than 10! I might have to have a classmate steal a roll of TP from the dean's office or something...

I can confirm that there is indeed a "stomach/intestinal Flu" going around. I just lost a day of work Friday, because I spent the entire nigh thursday worshiping at the porcelain altar. From both ends! Ughhh!

Matthew

yikes!

feel better!

Bless your heart!! I feel for ya, know that I'm thinking about you. Hope you feel better soon!!!

I think you need to call your doc!

yeah I agree to call you doc!  I got that drenched in sweat thing and fevers and that was the beginning of my flare....  =0(

Well, I did call my PCP and got a stat shipment to the ER after all. It was nice because he called the admitting ER doc before I got there and they had me in within minutes. The extent of the dehydration was pretty unparalleled, even for me - I hadn't peed a drop in 36 hours! So I got three liters of fluids, shots of Zofran and morphine, and a script for Vicodin. Even after 3 liters IV I couldn't produce a urine sample, so they went up the urethra expressway with a catheter, boo-hoo. Then an abdominal CT scan, which was normal. My bloodwork and urinalysis showed hypokalemia and some mild ketosis and elevated bilirubin. Not sure about the bilirubin (don't remember the details of that lecture, LOL) but I do know that hypokalemia is low serum potassium and ketosis means I am producing ketones, probably because I am in a mildly starved state because I have diarrhea every single day of my life and don't absorb very much. That will be talked about more on Tuesday, when I visit the GI again...

Anyway, I still haven't peed, but those 3 liters of fluids must be in there somewhere doing their job, and I do feel much better not being on dehydration's door. Plus those pain meds make me very pleased in general. It's so NICE not to have pain. Or to have a little less of it. You know?

Wow! I cant believe they released you without you peeing. Glad to see they didn't find anything too alarming. I know you are the doc but I'm going to be the voice of reason here... get yourself some pedialyte, stat. Drink drink and drink some more. You are lucky that they were able to start an IV with you so dehydrated. Can't your veins colapse or something? And ew I have never had a catheter but I shutter at the thought of it. Were they just being impatient or did they need that test done asap? Glad your home... consider getting your final pushed back a little as I am assuming you won't be studying much on those meds. *Hugs*

Doesn't the production of ketones also realease endorphins? You should be feeling wonderful right now, lol.

Seriously, I hope you get over this slump, dehydration is nothing to mess with. Let us know what they say on Tuesday.

Thanks peeps! I was back at school for most of the day today, learning heart sounds (throw a bunch of med students in a room and see who finds the first heart murmur!) and all kinds of other interesting things like what happens when a girl has two uteruses, or what a urachal fistula looks like...ugh, this stuff is not pretty!

I walked into one new professor's office to ask about taking the physiology exam two days later (it is scheduled for Wednesday, but I haven't touched the stuff in a few days and...well, it's a whole lot of stuff, especially given our urogenital anatomy/histology/embryology exam on Monday). I told him I'd "been sick." He practically laughed me out of his office until I explained that I was in the hospital for exacerbation of a chronic illness. Then of course he regressed and said it wouldn't be a problem as long as I talked to the dean. He thought I was talking about getting over a cold. I know the guy doesn't know me, and for all he knew I could be a major slacker who drank too much beer the night before at the medical frat party (wonder if those exist?). But oh, all the hoopla-doopla of getting a letter to the dean "explaining my situation" and asking them to "please consider my request to take an exam two days later than scheduled" and all that blech-work just seems so melodramatic, you know?

Fellow students, bestow your wisdom upon me...how much do you tell? Who do you tell? Right now I have to decide whether I'm going to go into this with a) the dean of student services, b) the academic dean, c) the dean of the college, d) my academic advisor, or e) my professors themselves. Who needs to know? I don't want everyone and their Aunt Patty sitting around the dean's throne discussing my diarrhea, but I also don't want to be the laughstock of Those Who Will Make Me a Doctor.

Sarita - this is one of those times to throw your pride to the side and get every one possible rallying for you. Once you write the letter it is easy enough to cc it to all the people on your list. It is just extra clicks of the print button. Then at the last minute if you found out you asked the wrong person your butt will be covered because you asked all the other people too. They are professionals and they deal with students with chronic illnesses all the time. In law school we are not allowed to ask professors for extensions/reschedules. We can only speak with the Dean. I think it is imperative you do this because you have no idea what is going to happen in the days to come. God forbid you are sick the day of the exam. And as a med student dealing w/ medical people you have the advantage of telling them in medical terms what is wrong with you. Doesn't that always make it sound more serious lol. Like I will get plaintiff doctors report that say he had a contusion (instead of bruise) or some fancy word for fatigue. Anyway, my point is, give it to them straight. They will be impressed with how much you have accomplished in spite of it. If you hold back, you are giving out the wrong impression. I really think saying you were "sick" was a HUGE understatement. You had an emergency and were in the hospital. Who knows, maybe one of the people that reads your letter will be like "that sounds like x disease" and you will find out what you have :) Again, keep us posted.