Friday, October 11, 2013

Day 6 The Antibiotics Begin

First off, I want to start off with some great news!  As of this morning my urine samples are no longer being collected as I have been without symptoms and am in no danger of being dehydrated my fluid levels don't need to be monitored anymore.  The most exciting thing about this news is I FINALLY get to flush a toilet again! Since I first drank the cholera infected water this past Monday morning every single urine and stool sample I have produced has been meticulously collected and documented.  Even the toilet paper I used has been collected all week in a special receptacle.  I imagine this is done to ensure that none of the cholera bacteria escape out into the environment potentially infecting other people, as unlikely as that may be. Since I haven't actually been flushing the toilet the same water has been sitting in there for nearly a week. Flushing it down today was a very rewarding experience.  Despite being able to pee freely, my stool samples are still ALL being collected (today's consisted of half type 3 and half type 4).  This is to ensure that the antibiotics are working as I won't be allowed to leave until my stool has been clear of cholera bacteria for 72 hours.
Week old toilet water
Poop paper receptacle. Ignore bottle of urine......
Today was more or less the same as yesterday. Wake up, breakfast, nap/Netflix, lunch, nap/netflix, with random bits of wii thrown in here and there. Later on I ordered some dinner and had some light conversation with all my new friends until it was time for Legend of Korra, at which point I went back to secluding myself to my room as I could not handle the distraction of anyone else while I watched what is easily the best thing nickelodeon has done in the past 13 years. I'm also beginning to think that my love of such show such as New Girl and Legend of Korra, is information that is better kept to myself. Although I will readily share with the masses not only the number and consistency of my stool samples over a week of time, perhaps my taste in television is too personal.  Few of you reading this will likely go on having not judged me.  To any pretty girl reading this, I'm really cool I swear! I simply have come to enjoy all parts of life.  If it helps I also really loved Breaking Bad and Dexter! Perhaps I'm just trying to fill the void left by the absence of those shows as they were two of my favorite shows which both came to a dramatic ending within a mere week of one another? Nahhh, who am I kidding? New Girl and Legend of Korra are both just great, and if you watch them you're great too.

After playing with the Wii for a while one of the other volunteers and I became a little bored and realized the Mii's were hysterical if we made it look like they were playing with their Wii Wii's.  Others may not find this as hysterical as I did but try spending 6 days in a hospital in perfect health with nothing to do and then get back to me. Also there is chance this video wont work which I will find very upsetting. I may have to upload this to youtube later and provide a link.

Eastern view
Later in the evening I looked out the east facing window of my bedroom to find that the sky was very pretty having been lit up with shades of pink.  I figured if the east facing window looked this good than the west facing side looked even better. At this point I snuck over to the other side of the floor through a door that is technically for "emergency use only", although as an avid sunset watcher who has been 6 days without seeing a sunset despite having nothing better to do with my day I deemed this venture an emergency and made my way to a small conference room on the west side of the building.  Although it wasn't quite what I hoped it was definitely worth the effort to see the sun setting over UVM campus. At this point I am beginning to forget what if feels like to be outside but I hear the forecast for the coming days is amazing and hope that it remains that nice until I can devise a way to break out of his place.


The west and one of the reasons I love Burlington.
To be honest I'm getting a little tired of doing the food reviews but since I never had the pleasure of having "rice water" diarrhea or even getting an IV in my arm to drag behind me all day there isn't a whole lot else to talk about.  On the bright side I guess I'm getting paid for a nice staycation, but on the downside not only is my blog less interesting, but later in life when I tell this story at parties, (yes I intend to tell diarrhea stories at parties) or to kids (who knows if they'll be mine or just some strange one I find on the side of the road) it won't be nearly as entertaining. Since I never got sick can I even claim that had cholera?  I definitely drank cholera, so I'm going to pretend that is close enough to count, I'll ask the doctors tomorrow during rounds on their opinions of the semantics related to this experience.  Also I've been severely limited in my opportunities to make puns due to my good fortune.

This morning for breakfast I had a plain bagel with cream cheese, honey nut cheerios with milk, a banana and an orange juice. While this was all fine the bagel wasn't even warm anymore by the time I got it, which I imagine I am somewhat to blame for because I didn't even order breakfast till 9am at which point the kitchen is pretty backed up. Maybe tomorrow I will order one sooner and maybe it will be hot.  Note to self. Order extra cream cheese.  Also I forgot to add banana bread to my order so I kicked myself for that.


Lunch today consisted of another fruit platter with cottage cheese and some banana bread (I had to makeup for my breakfast mistake), some steamed carrots, a side salad, a chocolate milk and a pudding.  Everything with lunch was very good, the strawberries were even much more fresh so all of he fruit got eaten, (don't worry Steph nothing was left behind to "feel lonely"), although they seemed to be skimping on the cottage cheese today. Maybe they were too lazy to open a new container? Or perhaps the kitchen simply hates me, although I don't see how that could be possible.


For dinner tonight I tried to get real crazy and ordered a chicken caesar salad with half a turkey sandwich, some red pepper hummus, a chocolate pudding (Current pudding tally 13) and some pretzels.  Somehow the chicken caesar salad turned into a chicken quesadilla with black beans and cheese which was annoying but not too horrible, until I realized that I wasn't given any sour cream or salsa to go with it. Other's were suggesting that I call back and get them to give me the correct food but I decided I'd be better off to let this one go. You win this round kitchen. Before I escape I will have to find a way to exact my revenge. Also I said no tomatoes.....Those bastards.


Despite being slighted by those monsters downstairs I survived to live another day with my spirits up.  Tomorrow I will begin the plan to get outside and get some fresh air.As you can see by my face I am becomming more and more desperate everyday. Please send help.  I was able to find a silver lining today in that I may be able to leave the hospital earlier than I had originally expected.  As soon as I am able to produce 3 stool samples that are clean of cholera bacteria each 12 hours apart, then I will be allowed to go on my marry way. This could allow me to leave as early as Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how well the antibiotics work for me.  Let's keep our fingers crossed that I am able to survive until then.

Hope everyone is enjoying reading about the terrible conditions that I am experiencing here as I lounge around all day and continue to be waited on hand and foot. What a struggle they put me through now expecting me to flush the toilet whenever I pee! Also they are still looking for more people to participate in 2 more rounds of this study happening over the next few months so if you are interested give a call to the UVM Vaccine Testing Center at 802-656-0013. Tell them I sent you and you are sure to have the same experience I did. Or not. Time will tell. Do it! You won't! (Peer pressure works every time B-)


I'm Pooped.


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