First, the escape. I walked into the kitchen Saturday night and saw one of the grocery bags rattling around under the open dishwasher door. I thought Artemis was underneath and playing with it, but I didn't realize that she had stuck her head through one of the holes and got it stuck. Not tight enough to choke her, just tight enough that she shouldn't get it off. She was walking backwards to try to get out of it and unknowingly was backing up right at Bodb (R's dog). She was already unhappy about the bag and her inability to get it off, when she found a big puppy nose in her butt... she FREAKED.

... and I mean FREAKED. She tore off out of the kitchen as fast as little cats can go and ripped a straight line through the living room. I heard a loud smack of her running into something and then I ran down the hallway after her. I chased her into the computer room... and it wasn't her. It was Grace (R's cat). Crap! I ran back to the living room, worried that Artemis had run so hard into something that she knocked herself cold. The room was super cluttered from many days of unwrapping purchases and there isn't sufficient light in that room, so I couldn't find her. R came in with Bodb to help me look and said, "Bodb, take me to Artemis. Where did she go?" and Bodb ran straight for the window..... which had been bent in half. She ran straight through the screen and busted the thing in half and was outside!!!!

Now, let's put this in perspective here. She was SO scared that she ran into a screen so hard that she bent it in half and kept running. Also... she's an indoor cat. So, not only is she freaked out about this bag that is attacking her and she bent the screen in half, but now she's been outside for at least a couple of minutes in a neighborhood she knows nothing about and I have no idea where she is.

I run outside in my socks and boxers calling her name and looking around for her, but seeing nothing. Now, I'm starting to freak out. :( It's too dark outside to really see anything, so I run back in, grab my emergency flashlight and run back outside. I continue calling her name and looking around in all the bushes. A cat comes tearing by running at full speed.... and she's still got the bag around her neck. She doesn't stop running until hiding behind a thick bush at the neighbors. We run over and I forcibly pull her out and remove the bag. She is a wreck! She's shaking, she's peed on herself... she is FREAKING out. :( We took her in and brought her into a small room and soothed her.

Poor little thing. :(

That was her ordeal... mine was a little longer.

I missed work most of last week. I got salmonella poisoning and didn't realize what was happening (the source of the poisoning will not be discussed to avoid announcing my own stupidity). I figured I had gotten food poisoning when I had to run to the bathroom out of the middle of a meeting I was in at work.. but food poisoning usually goes away after you've expelled enough of the toxin. That was Tuesday.

Wednesday when I was still suffering. I figured it would last about a day, so I expected it to ease up around mid-day. R and I looked through the Healing with Whole Foods book about dysentery and diarrhea and cooked up a stew that would help. My stomach calmed down and I felt a little better after the stew and I was able to sleep better Wednesday night.

Thursday I woke up running to the bathroom. Did I happen to mention that this isn't just your run of the mill diarrhea? I'm talking 20-30 times per day. I knew at this point that whatever I was dealing with was not normal. I went to the Clinic at Emperor's because Dr. Kim (my awesome acupucturist) was out of town. They gave me a formula and said that it should work very fast.... and didn't. That has unfortunately been my repeated experience with going to the Clinic at my school. :( The treatments aren't very good. I hope that I'm better when I get to that point.

I was trying to stay hydrated the best I could, but I just couldn't take in as much as I was putting out. Thursday night was my first class in Qigong and I decided to suck it up and go, because maybe the Qigong practice would help me feel better. It didn't, but it was still good to be there for the first class. Most importantly though, I saw that Dr. Kim was back in town. He was running an Open House at Emperor's, so he was busy and I didn't get to talk to him.

I called him first thing the next morning and he essentially said, "Get to your MD. Now. Tell me what they say it is and then we'll put together some herbs for you." I made an appointment that morning and they gave me a prescription for CiPro (a standard traveller's diarrhea medicine). I called Dr. Kim back and he said to take the CiPro and if that didn't fix it then I should have my MD do some lab tests and if THAT didn't work, he would make me some herbs.

The CiPro did a good job, but didn't get it all at first. They gave me two doses of it and said essentially, "I can't imagine that you'll need the second dose, but just in case..." I needed the second dose.

It lasted until Saturday night. Sunday I didn't have any problems and I'm back at work now on Monday. Dude.. that sucked.