Well, that was good. I’m feeling better than I was two days ago, that’s for sure. Two days ago I finally felt bad enough to go see the doctor. I was actually in bad enough shape that she sent me over to the hospital across the street for a CT scan and alerted a general surgeon in case that was needed. It turned out I didn’t need to surgeon and they just gave me a prescription and sent me home.

I went back in today for a two day followup and both the doctor and the assitant that takes you back to the exam room commented on how much better I looked today. My T cell count was less than half of what it was 2 days ago. I’ve gained back 5 lbs. in just 2 days. I feel much better now, but it’s going to take up to 2 weeks before I’m fully back to normal.

Damn I felt bad. The actual symptoms started on Thursday of last week, and I took that day off and rested. I felt better Friday, so I acted normal. Then Saturday it started up again, and it just got worse on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. My problem turned out to be colitis caused by the antibiotics they gave me during my shoulder surgery. A layman’s description of colitis is that it’s a yeast infection of the colon. Now, any women reading this consider that the typical vaginal canal is only about 6 inches long and the colon is roughly 3 times that at 18 inches long and you can imagine how bad a severe case of colitis might hurt. Next, consider that a woman can quit having sex when she has a yeast infection, my colon has to work just as long as I’m still eating and drinking. So I don’t get a break, and considering how long I put off going to the doctor, you can imagine how bad the problem was…

Now they have me on Flagyl to correct the problem. Flagyl comes with a nice warning: Don’t take with alcohol. I did a little research, and as it turns out, if you drink alcohol with Flagyl, you’re subject to acetaldehyde poisoning. You see, your liver first breaks ethyl alcohol down to acetaldehyde and then another enzyme in the liver breaks the acetaldehyde down to acetic acid (vinegar). Acetic acid is a normal metabolite that the kidneys recognize and flush out of the system. Acetaldehyde on the other hand is a toxic chemical and when it builds up in the body it makes you *very* ill. So, Flagyl keeps the enzyme that breaks acetaldehyde down to acetic acid completely busy all the time. If you drink alcohol with Flagyl, the acetaldehyde builds up in your system and you start “vomiting like a madman” (direct quote from the doctor at the hospital that prescribed the drug for me). Hmmm…methinks I want to avoid “vomiting like a madman”…

Anyway, that’s all for now.