Big Plans for the Da....oops

OK, so there is no need for comments on this one. I woke up today thinking I would get out of the house early and get some things done that I wanted to do. I was going to have a nice breakfast at a local eatery, check on the status of my lawnmower repairs and then visit a local Asian market to buy some foodstock for my freezer. First, though, I wanted to shave my head, trim my beard and shower.

I finally got out of the house at about 10:30, with a nice new cue-ball up top and a neatly trimmed beard. My first stop was for breakfast where I had scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, homefries and a biscuit with coffee. After eating, I started back to my truck for the short drive across town to my favorite Asian market. Between the restaurant and where I was parked, my stomach sent me a message. It was not the fact that I had just eaten, oh no. This message was much older than that. I guess its delivery had been delayed somewhat. Either way, I thought that I didn't feel all that well. I decided that I would go to check on my mower first, just to be safe. I never even made it to the repair shop. Instead, I found myself whipping the truck back into my subdivision and my body to the safety of my own bathroom. There is nothing like the big D to ruin plans for a day. My timing, luckily, was good and there were no accidents.

I have learned that on the first bout of diarrhea, I have to take lomotil immediately or I will become a denizen of the toilet for a good while. I took the three little pills that stop the trots for me and soon was so heavy headed that I had to return to bed. Three hours later, I am finally back up again.

It is a given that this can happen to anyone without notice, but it has been happening to me with more and more frequency in the past year. It blows. On one instance, I ended up in the ER with an IV line in to keep me from dehydrating further. Since Medicare doesn't pay well when ER visits are involved, I may as well have opened my wallet and dumped cash down the toilet as well.

My point is this. If you are thinking that living with HIV/AIDS is now manageable, remember the trots. You will get to know them with intimacy and sometimes at the most inopportune moments. Luckily, my errands were driven more by boredom than by real need today. I only managed to eat breakfast and get my personal hygiene completed before my day went awry. And yes, I can still feel a rumbling in my tummy, a sign that there will be more disruption later...much later, thanks to the lomotil.

Categories: health medicine HIV AIDS HIV/AIDS side-effects