Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Gastro Alert !

The top story on The National last night was the gastroenteritis outbreak throughout our fair land, and in particular, the fact that it has reached epidemic proportions in Montreal.

And the punch line was: it should be over by the end of March. March! That's a million years from now.

I must've washed my hands 10 times yesterday. I'm afraid of touching anything. I'm carrying a little bottle of Purell in my bag. And me, who takes public transit all the time, exposing myself to such vile germs. Oh, the humanity.

I caught that bug last February at my uncle's 70th Birthday party. It was the worst (the bug not the party).

My most vivid memory? Lying on the bathroom floor, thinking this is a really undignified way to die. I was convinced the end was near. Man, was I sick. (On the positive side, I lost 4 pounds.)

All this to say, I am terrified of catching it again this winter. But I learn from my mistakes. I have already stocked up in case of emergency. This week I bought a supply of ginger ale, chicken noodle soup packets and soda crackers. If I'm going to catch the bug, at least I'll be able to nurse myself back to health.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Drink lots of green or black tea to keep your immune system healthy, in addition to the hand sanitizer. You can get decaf to avoid those attractive I'm-a-junkie hand jitters. Just add some honey and drink up!
I caught that the day after Christmas last year (well, in 05) and it went through my whole family one after the other. I had to throw away two bathroom trash cans. The environment be damned, I wasn't cleaning that out!

Anonymous said...

The gastro virus did the rounds at work before Xmas - I was so pleased I avoided it - people suddenly running off in the middle of conversations, turning the colour of the walls (grey) etc.

Pleased until the Wednesday after Xmas - the bug got me and the rest of my family - we caught it off my sister who got it off her in-laws - the present that goes on giving! I was at the cinema when mine struck, so I'm hoping I passed it on to quite a few people! Oh, and forget the crackers - the only thing I could keep down was water.However, it did only last for 24 hours and then we were all up and about again.