This may be pretty lame, but it’s the biggest thing that’s happened to me lately (pretty sad comment).

So last Monday night (November 10) I went to my chorus rehearsal as usual. The only difference was that I wasn’t really hungry, so all I had for dinner was a bottle of OJ and bag of beef jerky I bought at the gas station on the way (THAT was probably the culprit, but I digress…). Around 9:00 or so, I started feeling a little blah but chalked it up to my currently stress-filled and busy life. By 10:00 I was feeling far too nauseous to remain on the risers and left early.

Just as I pulled off my freeway exit after a somewhat tense and woozy drive home, I had to slam on the brakes, fling open the door and up came everything I’d eaten since lunch. I spent the next few hours driving the porcelain bus to the point of near delirium: fever, violent chills, lots of joint pain, major dehydration. Nothing like having to curl up on the bathroom floor with a roll of TP as a pillow to instill a dose of humility.

By 3:30 AM, I was over at my exciting local hospital’s Emergency Room with an IV drip in my arm, being given something for the nausea and Morphine for the pain (dude!). X-rays showed no intestinal blockage, and I attempted to get as much sleep as I could, munching on ice chips as my only form of direct hydration to try and make my mouth feel less like the great Gobi desert. Eusebio was staying at his Mom’s house that night, but I called him at 7:15 and he came and brought me home. I’ve not been this violently ill in years. In fact, it was about ten years ago—and I think in the same E.R. room—that I came for in I.V. push of Epinephrine and Benadryl to restore my ability to breathe after accidentally taking something containing aspirin, to which I’m very allergic.

I’m doing OK at the moment, though I spent the next day-and-a-half with no more nourishment than Gatorade. The doctor said it was probably something viral and I just had to tough it out, but it was one helluva way to end a rehearsal night! I ended up being home for three days, right at the wrong time—I had some major deadlines at work that have now all slipped and I’m even more stress-filled playing catch up.

The good news—if any at all—was that I lost 5 pounds! I also happened to find two packages and two expense reimbursement checks when I returned to the office Friday. That’s not much of a silver lining and a tough way to lose weight, but there you are…

The bad news is that it makes me feel like such an old man—comparing my hospital stories. More immediately, though, is that it points out how far I’ve sunk by not really getting back into my workout and training routine since before I went to Russia in August. I’m still in damn good shape, but not paying attention will catch up with you, I guess. Time to buckle down again…