Salmonella Sucks

Normally the bulk of my posts consist of pictures, but you will appreciate the lack of pictures with this post... I promise!  :)  It's probably gross to most of you, but the healthcare professional in me thinks it is significant to document the horribleness of experiencing this disease not once, but twice, in one month!!

Sydney had several runny stools on Monday night, but nothing that was too alarming.  I put her to bed with a  99ish fever, and wasn't that concerned!  She woke up during that night with a fever of 102.5, crying hysterically, with really bad diarrhea.  By the time the sun came up that morning, I knew it was not good.  We headed to the pediatrician's office with a potential diagnosis of salmonella, shigella, or Camphobacteria.  She had a total of 27 bloody, horrible stools that day-- with cramps, headache, nausea, feeling "busy" (dizzy),  and feeling crummy all day long.  It was one of the hardest, longest days of my life!  (Of course, it had to happen in JULY when my husband is super busy at work-- not in a month when he could've left to help!)  So, she got a shot of Rocephin, and was feeling much better by the next day and 100% by the end of the week.  On that Sunday, we did get a confirmation phone call that she did indeed have Salmonella.  Wow- in my 5 years of nursing, I have only seen negative Salmonella stool studies!  Poor baby!  Our only saving grace was that she did not have any vomitting, so she was able to still eat and drink, which probably kept us out of the hospital!

Fast forward one month.  Eli wakes up running a high fever with diarrhea with blood and mucous.  We head straight to urgent care, because I am not one bit comfortable with the blood and mucous.  You can go 15 times and I'm ok, but you add the blood and mucous and I want to see a doctor!  She informs me that she is 99% sure he has Salmonella, because apparently you can still shed it for a long time (definitely a month!) after having symptoms.  SO, we literally followed the same course with Eli, except he's just generally a little calmer about feeling bad.  He wasn't quite as freaked out by the whole thing as Sydney.  But still, seriously-- miserable experience for all of us!!!

SO... if I seem a little psycho about food safety now-- this. is. why!!!