Stomach Virus = No Bueno

So the other night I suddenly got real sick.. I mean within 5 mins of feeling completely normal. The next ten hours would prove to be the worse of my life. I wish that was an exaggeration, but it wasn't.

For about 8 hours straight, my body continued to empty itself from both ends simultaneously. I know that is disgusting, but that is the only way I could describe it. First it was food, then stomach bile, then just water.

My back, stomach, and legs were completely cramped. I figured it was from laying on the tile floor the whole night, but I would find out later otherwise.

After the whole night, I decided to weigh myself and discovered that I had lost 9lbs in about 8 hours. The thing I was most concerned about was becoming overly dehydrated. We looked up the symptoms of extreme dehydration and I fit the mold. Dizziness, blurred vision, etc.

At about 7:45 the next morning (about 10 hours after getting sick) we went to the nearest care now for help. They immediately sent me to the hospital, even before I was seen because of the severity of my condition.

Luckily we got to the hospital at a good time, because I got immediately in a room. They hooked me up to a IV that gave me fluids, pain meds, and anti-nausea meds. They told me that the muscle cramps were a result of a potassium depletion from my body emptying itself.

After three attempts of getting an IV started, which sucks because I hate needles to begin with, we finally got me going on fluids. I was asleep in about 3 mins. What a relief!

The whole experience was cool because I got to talk to the chaplain, the doctor and the nurses about how I was a minister. They asked me about it since my health insurance was the seminarian plan. I guess that news made it down the chain from the check in ladies.

After about 6 hours of sleep in the ER, they finally let me go. I am feeling much better now, praise God!

So what we thought was food poisoning turned out to be a stomach virus. I don't know which is worse, but who cares. The good thing is that it is now over!

This little bout with illness taught me a lot in terms of ministry. Think about the people that are in the hospital for long periods of time and experience what I did day in and day out because of cancer or something like that.

How are we ministering to these people? To their families? I hope we are doing a good job, but are we really? My wife was a little overwhelmed with the whole hospital thing. My parents came and got her breakfast and lunch and went with her to by me groceries and medicine. It was a blessing.

But what about people that don't have this type of family support? A bad deal would have been worse, with no one to minister to us.

Lets be especially aware of these situations, and do what we can to minister to families in need, when no one else will.