Sick

Hoping to post a WisCon wrapup/summary soonish, but this ain't it.

Last night around 2:30 a.m. I decided to head back to my room and go to sleep; I'd been up past 4 each of the preceding three nights (for a total of about 15 hours of sleep), and decided I needed to get to sleep earlier.

I had been feeling a little bit queasy on and off for the previous couple hours, but that didn't seem to match the onset symptoms of the Flu That Ate WisCon, so I didn't think anything of it. But by the time I got back to my room, I was feeling really sick.

Ended up spending most of the next two hours in the bathroom. Slept, intermittently, from about 4:45 to about 7:45. Woke up still sick, though not quite as bad.

I got off easy compared to a bunch of other people. But I'm still sick, and I haven't eaten anything in the past 24 hours except a few slices of peach, a banana, and a bottle of apple juice.

I'm really hoping I can get some sleep tonight, and that this whatever-it-is will resolve itself overnight.

And I'm hoping that the rest of y'all who got sick also get better soon. It would've been awful to be on a plane today even with the mild version; it must've been much worse with the bad version.

[Edited to add: On re-reading this, I realize that I didn't explicitly say that I didn't fly anywhere yesterday; instead, as we'd previously planned, Mary Anne drove Ben and me to Chicago. That was far more pleasant and manageable than an airplane would've been. But a couple of my friends who were sick did have to fly, and it sounds like it was really awful.]

7 Responses to “Sick”

  1. Susan Marie Groppi

    Oh, honey. I’m so sorry you caught the plague.

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  2. Zak

    Sorry to hear you’re still feeling bad. You were definitely looking green around the gills earlier today.

    The most likely suspect for the Wiscon Eating Bug is everyone’s good friend norovirus. It shouldn’t be with you for more than 48 hours.

    The last time I had it, I recall the primary awful lasted about 24 hours and then I just couldn’t stand the thought of food for most of the next day. If you can tolerate it, gatorade is good, or pedialyte or really anything with carbs, salt and water.

    That bug is pretty much the last thing in the world that I’d want to be on an airplane with. Ugh.

    Fortunately, so far Sharon and I are both doing fine.

    I hope you get to feeling better soon, and it was great seeing seeing you again. Maybe one of these cons we’ll get to do some variety of dinner or something.

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  3. Leah Bobet

    Oh, yick, I’m sorry.

    The one member of our contingent who fell to plague was helped with applications of warm water and chicken soup, but I always try to solve things with chicken soup.

    Feel better soon. :/

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  4. Jackie M.

    I’m glad you don’t have to fly with it, at least.

    They were telling me Monday morning that ~30-50 people had gotten sick. But by Monday it really seemed like 50% of the people I talked to had had it.

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  5. Jed

    Thanks for the sympathies, all! But really, it hasn’t been nearly as bad for me as it was for most of the other people who caught it. I’m still a little sick, but slowly getting better.

    Thanks much for the link, Zak! Lots of helpful info there, and good to know it’s unlikely to last more than 48 hours.

    And thanks to all for the various feeding suggestions. I have a vague idea that bread and/or yoghurt might be edible at this point, but maybe I’ll try some of these other ideas too.

    Jackie: Yeah, I suspect it was more than 30-50 people. I know at least six people (counting myself) who got hit by it; probably a few others who I’m not thinking of off the top of my head. …I’m having a hard time figuring out the statistics, though; I do know quite a few people at WisCon. So maybe 30-50 is plausible. But I’m guessing that they missed counting a bunch of people, especially among those of us who got hit Sunday night.

    I heard a lot of rumors about it on Sunday night and Monday morning–that it was the hot dogs; that it was just a virus going around (not from any food source); that it was throughout Madison, not just at WisCon; etc. I don’t know if anyone’s got any answers yet.

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  6. David J. Schwartz

    Ugh, dude. Hope you feel better right quick.

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  7. Jenn Reese

    I got hit at the same time you did, Jed — around 2:30am on Sunday night/Monday morning. Maybe we were infected at the same time. (Sharing food at the Thai place may not have been a good idea!) Hope you’re feeling better!

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