20 years ago today – Day 15

March 18 – my worst day so far

I wake up at 2am feeling queasy. I get out of bed and head for the washroom, but two steps later I wretch, fall to my knees and vomit on the bedroom floor. I am shaking from weakness and sweating at the same time. Mike leaps out of bed and runs out of the room. I suppose he is getting me a towel or something but he doesn’t return.

For the moment, I don’t dare try to stand up. I call to Mike, asking him to bring me something to help me clean up the mess. He returns with a garbage pail a few seconds later, handing it to me in a hurried gesture and then quickly leaving again. It is one of those pails operated by a foot pedal that is quite useless in this situation. I slowly pull myself up and stagger into the kitchen to find a towel and a bowl. I am still shaking and dizzy but Mike is no help. He’s hiding around the corner in the hallway like a small boy seeking safety from domestic violence.

I do the best I can to scoop up the mess I have made. I rinse the bowl and cloth in the toilet and go back to give the floor a second wiping. I sprinkle foot power over the wet floor to soak up the dampness and deodorize the room. The whole process takes me half an hour in my present state of weakness. Mike remains outside of the room, around the corner with his back pressed to the wall. I am not sure if he is disgusted, afraid or even angry, but he is not offering any help. I just want to get the nightmare over with.

I call to him, saying everything was fine now. He scurries back into his bed and pulls the covers over himself, turning his back to me. I feel better for the moment, although my mouth tastes rancid. I manage to get some sleep but I am up again at dawn and again at 10 am vomiting in the toilet. Then the diarrhea starts. It continues every hour or so for the next 27 hours.

It doesn’t take me long to figure out that I have food poisoning, probably from a pastry that has been in the sun much of the weekend. It might have been the one before dinner because I ate that alone, while the other pastries I had shared with others and I am the only one who is sick.

I am weak and tired the rest of the day, and as empty as a tin can in the desert, but I don’t dare try to eat anything. I try to sit up and read in the afternoon but I need my sweater on. Perhaps I have a bit of a fever.

Neither Mike or Nick have shown much concern, except to get out of my way – not that I was going anywhere. Mike disappears all morning and only brings me some juice and yogurt on my request. Nicks disappears on a ‘brief’ hitch-hiking trip to Lagoa to do some banking. He returns four hours later full of horror stories about his ordeal, but like Mike, he doesn’t ask how I am faring. I got out of bed for a brief time while the others were out, but I was back in bed by 10 pm. The only sight I have seen today is the toilet.