If you've been following my blog, you know that I had a pretty serious bout with food poisoning/gastroenteritis/dysentery in early July. Although I laid out the seriousness of the problem in fairly gory detail, in retrospect I feel I may have given it short shrift, so I'm writing a follow up as sort of a public service message.
I think many of us (including me until now) sometimes view food poisoning as a mere inconvenience but not something life-threatening. I've changed my tune much after my ordeal and after listening to a good podcast on the subject. Truly, food poisoning is no laughing matter. It can be and is fatal in some cases. In my case, it was closer to that level of severity than I let on. Now that the doctors have weighed in, apparently I came close to buying the farm. And I wasn't even looking to buy a farm. Sheesh.
Do yourself a favor and listen to this podcast. Although I was aware of most of the dangers the author mentions, I learned a few new unsavory things, not to mention that I was reminded that my safe food handling paranoia is not unfounded.
What prompted this post? Today, I finally got the results of my culture taken on July 4. INCONCLUSIVE. Oh brother–that was unhelpful! I asked the doctor, "how can that be?" She said, "you had had 24 hours of IV-administered antibiotics before the culture was taken, so it's possible everything was killed by then."
Hmmmm. Really? Geez!
If that's true, I'm extra-frustrated that the first doctor didn't run a culture on the first sample they took on day one (which I specifically asked for). So as it stands, I'll never know which evil bacteria took residence in my body and caused me so much grief. But if I were a betting badger, I'd bet E-coli due to the presence of a "moderate amount of blood" in my sample. Yikes. And I'll never know where it came from (the bacteria, that is).
As for my health, I'm feeling pretty much normal except for some residual weakness and loss of appetite. But I'm still kicking and will recover completely. Here's me with my new fun hair, which I don't think everyone has seen:
Moral of the story: don't blow off safe food handling and consumption. I know many of you might blame my current locale as being high-risk and the reason I got sick. That is probably true. But food poisoning is just as prevalent and dangerous in the western world. Remember Odwalla and Jack in the Box? Just listen to that podcast. Your next backyard barbecue may give you a nasty memory (or worse) if you're not careful.
Okay, now go about your business and be happy, damn it! END OF SERMON.
-Badger OUT.
I share your food handling safety. I have had food poisoning at least twice. In fact ‘they’ say that many times people who are calling in with influenza are actually experiencing food poisoning of some sort.
My husband is a huge risk taker and I let him know it all the time. He feels crappy several days of the week and I think it’s because of his lackadaisical food handling.
Make your husband listen to the podcast. It is serious sh*t (no pun intended).