A Hard Lesson Learned

Well, last night was one of the most painful I have had in a long time. My parents came over to help celebrate Brandon's 1st birthday. They wanted to have KFC. I wasn't into the idea, but relented cause it was my parents.

That was BIG mistake.

Just after I finished my meal, my chest pain flared up instantly. I took one of the prescribed antacids my Doctor gave me. It did squat. When my parents left, half an hour later, I took a couple Tylenol, just to calm the pain. I went to bed and passed out.

I woke up at around 11pm and my chest pain was worse than ever. I went the bathroom, to take some more Tylenol. Lee came to bed about 20 minutes later. I was suffering so bad, I didn't want to be awake by myself, so I didn't let Lee into bed. But my bladder lost that fight. I had to go to the bathroom. Lee got into bed.

By 12:10am, Lee was asleep and I wanted to throw up. I went to the bathroom. My saliva started to water. I could almost feel the vomit coming. And...nothing happened. I didn't throw up.

I didn't want to go back to bed. Not until I had thrown up. I knew if I did, it would help somewhat.

So, I went downstairs and watched the 24 episode I Tivo'd this week. I took a large bowl with me. 20 mintues into the episode, I threw up. I threw up hard. It wasn't sickly or like being pregnant. It was like my stomach was pushing something out, that shouldn't be there.

I finished my episode of 24 and skimmed a few channels until I felt tired again. The pain was not as severe. It felt more like an after thought. I just needed to sleep it off.

At about 20 minutes to 2am, I went back upstairs and took the Tylenol I needed to dull the pain, so I could sleep. That and some Peptobismol.

Well, it did the trick. In the morning, I felt fine. It was just a bad dream.

Lesson here: No more KFC. EVER! And that really doesn't bother me.

I've always treated the time frame for medication doses as more of a guideline. I still believe that. The medicine company is not going to give you a dosage time frame that has very little leeway. I'm not talking hours, but half an hour is NOT going to kill you. Besides, I always find that my symptoms return before the time is up and, if I don't the medicine right away, the next dose might not even kick in. And I don't want to suffer. Of course I am talking about Tylenol, not say Percaset or stuff like that. Since Tylenol is pretty safe, I do what is best for my comfor level. I am not inviting a discussion on this topic.