A milkshake can kill you

Every year I like to try something new, and since I just had my 48th birthday I was starting to think of some options. Little did I know that my new experience would be chosen for me. Tuesday morning I found myself in the hospital with an IV stuck in my arm. I never had one of those before.

So how did that happen? Well on Sunday I started having diarrhea (this is probably where some of you stop reading). It stopped by the time I went to bed. But the next day I had diarrhea again. I also had a sore throat so I decided to just have a milkshake for lunch. The diarrhea got worse.

Between midnight and 2AM I think I visitied the toilet 10 or 15 times. I didn't know I had that much water in me. I bit the skin on one of my knuckles together. The skin didn't seperate as usual and just stuck there. That told me what I already knew -- I was dehydrated. Just before going back to bed I looked in the mirror and thought "I look pretty good even though I am dehydrated".

A few hours later I woke up with muscle cramps. I got up to go to the bathroom but passed out on the toilet. I came to a minute later and Roxy was slapping me in the face. I was wondering why she was doing that. She looked worried and wanted to take me to the hospital. I drank some water and felt better and decided to just go to bed.

I should have listened to my wife even though she had just finished slapping me in the face. A few hours later I ended up at the hospital anyway with an IV stuck in my arm. As I was leaving the hospital the doctor was giving me instructions. She said don't take any dairy products or sugary foods because they make diarrhea worse.

So what lessons did I learn?

1) If you have diarrhea, don't drink a milkshake

2) If your wife slaps you in the face -- listen to her

3) People really do die of diarrhea.

I also learned how to spell diarrhea.

P.S. Go to google and search on "Iraq water supply diarrhea". You will be shocked. Or just click here.