Saturday, March 7, 2015

Hike #13: Food poisoning

When
Wednesday, 2015-02-25
Where
TwoBit Peak, from the 40th St Trailhead
Duration
1 hour
Notable
Saw a man walking his pet scarlet macaw

Today's hike was my first after recovering from food poisoning the week before. My wife remains unconvinced it was food poisoning, instead thinking I had the flu. What do you think? Here are the symptoms:

  • Fever
  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Loss of appetite
  • Body aches

Notably, what's missing from the above list is any indication of respiratory infection—no sneezing, coughing, runny nose, etc. Also, the symptoms came on suddenly, within fifteen minutes of eating breakfast, which consisted of shredded wheat in soy milk. Soy milk goes bad one-to-two weeks after opening the carton.

By thinking my illness was the flu, which is contagious, and not food poisoning, which is not contagious, my wife played it safe—even if making an improbable diagnosis. She avoided contact with me and saved herself—in her mind, at least—from catching whatever I had. However, the next week I discovered an additional motive for her unlikely diagnosis: it may have been a cover-up. One day upon opening the fridge I noticed someone—and I'm not saying who, it may have been one of the cats, and not my lovely wife—had put an opened carton of soy milk at the back of the shelf, behind an unopened carton. I'm a lazy and unobservant person, so normally I grab whichever carton is at the front of the fridge, irrespective of “opened” status. I admit this is not a good system; an opened carton that's mistakenly placed at the back of the shelf may stay opened for more than a week. And that may be exactly what happened.

We'll never know the true story here. The soy milk I ate for breakfast was the last from the carton, and there's no way to tell when a carton was first opened.

4 comments:

Bobby and the Presidents said...

I am inclined to go with the afflicted in such debates. I believe they have the best chance of distinguishing its effects from previous calamities experienced through their lives. I will add that I also find it hard to believe that a flu could come on so quickly, or go away as quickly. Full disclosure, I am not a doctor, but I have stayed in more Holiday Inn Expresses than perhaps all other JEC readers combined.

Craig Brandenburg said...

Bobby el al.— I've got to give my wife credit: she hasn't gotten a cold all year. This would reflect win-the-lottery odds if it weren't for her having conditioned her students to sneeze into their arms, not their hands.

Bobby and the Presidents said...

Major props to NEL indeed, I envy such consistent health even though I too have been lucky with health overall.

Changing gears: Was the Macaw actually walking?

Craig Brandenburg said...

Bobby et al.— The macaw was perched on the man's arm. I asked him—the man, not the bird—if he flew the bird while in the Preserve, but the bird has an injured wing and can't fly.