Today I had to leave work because I was sick, like really had to leave because it could happen any minute sick. Once I knew I had passed the invisible line of “I’m okay” and “I’m not okay”, not knowing which end would tell the story, I started to make for the exit, telling a co-worker that I was going home sick and I felt I was going to throw up.
I live in a small town but traffic is still annoying at lunch. Nothing terrible, but 5 minutes too long for the size of the town. I saw some emergency lights up ahead on my street and decided to take the back route. I shaved off a precious minute. I was just in time to get me in the door, take off my pants(it felt like the right thing to do), make it up to the bathroom and assumed the classic puking position.
The first hurl was brief and controlled. Sort of a warm up. Stretching the muscles. The second and third eruptions were full on projectile hurling. Nose and mouth. I collapsed next to the toilet after I was done, feeling one hundred percent better, and sobbing a little. My wife asked if I was feeling ‘better’ and I nodded and said that I was little in the big scheme of things. I picked myself up and walked down the stairs with my wife. I came off the last step to the first landing, slipped and fell on my ass. That is when Christi asked why I didn’t have pants on.
The rest of the day was spent in my bed with my two dogs snuggled up against me while I ran a low grade fever. I thought of the different things I might of ate/drank that would of made me so ill and came up with the stale two day old coffee grounds I brewed this morning (Christi suggested that there might have been mold in the grounds) or quite possible, the stomach flu. It’s been going around.