A poisoning of the mind

I had a very lazy day Sunday. So lazy in fact, that I didn't turn on my stove once to cook a meal, unusual for someone who loves to putter around in the kitchen. Instead, I opted to make fast food my main form of sustenance. I had a steak and biscuit from Mrs. Winners for breakfast and fish from Captain D's for dinner.

There was one odd thing about my fish dinner. When I picked up one of the last remaining fries and put it in my mouth, I noticed that it was cold, colder than the rest of the fries, and wet. Not wet like it was a victim of condensation from being on the bottom of a pile of hot fries but wet like it had come in contact with some sort of contaminate. At least that's what my overactive imagination thought. I took the fry out of my mouth and placed it back in the styrofoam container and finished the rest of my meal.

I felt fine for the rest of the evening but when I woke up Monday morning, I didn't feel so hot. I was extremely nauseous and I had an unusual pain in my abdomen that I would later identify as stomach cramps. I dragged myself to work but left the office around 11:30, went home and promptly collapsed in my bed.

My symptoms (nausea, stomach cramps, low grade fever, chills) and the suspect fry all pointed to food poisoning. As the evening progressed, the stomach cramps became less severe and save for an occasional reminder, they have all but disappeared. Today, however, the diarrhea has started. Fun.

I probably could have been a trooper and gone into work despite the fact that I still don't feel my best but I decided to stay home an extra day to give myself a chance to heal completely and to get some much needed rest. It's a shame that I wait until my body violently revolts against me before I allow myself to take time off from my 3 jobs. Surely, that must be some sort of sickness too.