| This was supposed to be a pretty nice weekend. I had another one of my "new science teacher" trainings on Saturday, and then Chris would meet me at my apartment. We'd go out to dinner and hang out Saturday night. Sunday was our "Scrubs" day, and total hang-out. He would leave Sunday night to work on Monday. On Monday I would rest, get all my grading and planning done, and drink all the liquids (pretty much the only things I can drink are Gatorade, bottled water, and carbonated water) for my colonoscopy on Tuesday. Chris would come back out late Monday, to take me to the medical center for the procedure, and take care of me. He would leave late Tuesday night to go back home, and resume work on Wednesday, while I would begin teaching again on Wednesday. Yeah, that was the plan. Chris came out Saturday, according to plan. We went to Best Buy to try to find some more good movies, but couldn't really find any. We went home, and watched some more of the "Scrubs" episodes. Sunday I made biscuits from the "pop and bake", and then made cookies as Chris fixed my computer- my printer had stopped working due to some upgrade with Vista or something. My stomach was acting up- my colon has stopped allowing food to go through (we think), so as a result I feel bloated and sick constantly. We did some errands around, and then decided to get some meatball sub sandwiches from Subway. We get home again, eat our yummy sandwiches, and then watch "Ratatouille". We're both noticing that Chris has an insane amount of gas- normally something he's proud of, but it was just odd. The movie ended, and he went to the restroom. He came out saying he just had diarrhea. Not cool. My stomach was hurting as well, so I went in, and had same results. Uh-oh. Chris feels REALLY sick, so he lays down on the bed, and we decide to watch "Meet the Robinsons", and then he'd go home after that- it was only 7 or so, so it wouldn't put him home too late. We consider having him stay at my house for the night, and drive out early in the morning, but he didn't like that. He started gathering his things so he could leave when the movie was over, then says "Whoa- outta my way!" runs to the bathroom, and is VIOLENTLY sick. I'm surprised the neighbors didn't hear it- it was SO loud. We immediately realize it's food poisioning from the meatball subs- other than the biscuits and cookies (which we had eaten HOURS before) it was the only thing we had eaten! We had the exact same symptoms within about 15 minutes of each other, and hadn't spent time together previously to catch a virus from a 3rd person. We watch the movie, and he still feel sick. We (okay, I) decide he isn't driving anywhere, and call his home to let his mom know he wouldn't be coming home. He tries to rest, but is throwing up again a couple hours later. I'm sick as well, but not throwing up, so I designate myself the official "get Gatorade and other sick remedies" queen. Make it to the store just before it closes, and get a bunch of Kleenex, Gatorade, soup, etc. Chris slept on my bed, and I made myself a little bed on the couch. He's still persistent that he's going to work in the morning- that he just needs a little bit of sleep. Of course he's up every 45 minutes to be sick, and we're drawing straws to try to use the restroom as quickly as possible. Even though I feel a LOT better than he does, I have my "girlfriend radar" on high alert, so whenever he gets up, I'm up (or at least awake) as well- getting more Gatorade, bottled water, etc. 4 AM comes around, and Chris decides he's not going to make it in (he was supposed to get up an hour later to make it to work on time with LA traffic), so he e-mails his work to let them know, and then throws up immediately afterward. Oh man. I go out AGAIN, find a 24-hour Walgreens to get some Immodium AD and more Gatorade- Chris drank (and released) all of my supply for Monday, in addition to the few I had bought at 10 PM! By the time I get home, he's back asleep. From there, he actually starts sleeping for an hour at a time or so, which is nice. We eventually wake up enough to talk, but Chris is SO weak that he can't do anything more than just rest on the bed. He told me when I had gone out to get the medicine at 4 AM, that he found the last Gatorade in the fridge, but was too weak to open it! :( I call his mom to give her an update, and then go to Blockbuster to get some more movies. We watch them on the bed, and Chris is getting better, bit-by-bit. Now is when I start to get a bit nervous. I was told I'll need someone to help take care of me after my colonoscopy, but Chris is in no condition to take care of himself, let alone another adult who is incapacitated. Neither of us have any family out here, and after running quickly through my friends who live nearby, no one has any extra rooms that one of us could stay at. Once I start taking all the pre-meds for my colonoscopy, we're both going to need to have the restroom available for us exclusively, and in a 1-bathroom apartment, that just ain't gonna happen. Even if Chris got better, he definitely needed some serious good sleep, and he wouldn't get it on the couch. Neither of us could really handle the other person moving on the bed, so us sharing the bed wouldn't work. Chris was feeling better and better, but we figured the thing he needed most was true solid rest. I check out hotel rates, and find a last-minute internet rate for the hotel literally down the street. Perfect! Chris can sleep in a giant king bed, I can sleep in my own bed, we can spend as much time in the restroom as we need, and get some good sleep. Success! 4 o'clock rolls around- time to take my phospho-soda! (the pre-colonoscopy meds that flush out my system). Chris is definitely feeling better- to the point that he's eating chicken noodle soup. He feels REALLY bad though- he came out here to take care of ME, and I've spent the past 24 hours taking care of him! I try to reassure him that everything's all right- I don't think he fully believed me. Around 5 PM my meds start taking effect, so he heads out to the hotel. He's going to pick me up around 8, and take me to the medical center. After I go in, he'll either hang out in the waiting room, or go home (or to the hotel) to hang out for awhile), then drive me home. I'm not going to be completely knocked out, but rather not really care what's going on (according to the nurse who called me this afternoon to verify). Chris will stay out with me until either I'm up and wandering around by mysef again, or until I crash for the night, then he heads out back to Whittier, to get to work on Wednesday. Both of us believe that since we made it through this, that we can make it through just about anything! I had gotten really upset on Sunday- the last of my roommates announced her engagement Saturday, which makes me the last one out of BOTH my Seattle friends from church (who I grew up with) and college roommates. I know Chris and I are going to be together, and it's more of a matter of timing, but it's just hard to see everyone getting married all around you, and worse yet to get the COMMENTS! The "so, why aren't you married yet?" The "come on, you two have been dating for over 2 1/2 years now... let me see your hand!". My parents, his parents, friends- it's just too much sometimes! We talked it out (okay, I talked it out) and things are good. I wasn't concerned that it wasn't going to happen- more of a "I'm not waiting for another 2 years for this to happen!" kind of thing. We think this weekend has been a definite test, to see if we could handle both of us simultaneously getting very ill. We did it! Now, just to get through the colonoscopy tomorrow...
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