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The Kitchen Table

Have you ever had salmonella?

15 years ago

The current salmonella outbreak started me thinking about my experience with the bacteria 15 years ago. I got it from eating undercooked beef liver--my own fault.

I had gotten up at 4:00 a.m. to drive my son to meet a group that was taking a weekend trip to a mountain. When I got home I asked my daughter Jill if she was cold. She said, "If you're cold, maybe you have a fever. It's not cold in here." Boy, did I have a fever! Within a half hour I was shaking so much, teeth chattering, that I, who usually avoids doctors and hospitals, asked my DH to drive me to the ER.

I couldn't walk from the car to the entrance. In a bed in the ER, I was delirious, thinking my cat Nocci was on the bed with me. I couldn't open my eyes or communicate very well, but I could hear people around me. I know at one point my BP was 80/28. I don't know if it got any lower.

They did a culture and diagnosed me with salmonella. They started antibiotics. I was in the ER all day. They wanted to admit me to the hospital, but I insisted on going home.

Without getting too graphic, I'll just say that salmonella is one very messy illness. The Dept. of Health called me and said it's highly contagious, so I would have to clean up after myself. I could barely raise my head from the pillow. They told me the antibiotics the hospital had prescribed would do no good, but I kept taking them anyway. I think that was probably a good thing, as a raging infection like that could have spread into something unmanageable. It attacked my colon to the point where there was lots of blood.

I was in bed for more than two weeks, during which time I couldn't even imagine myself when I was well. Jill told me later that she feared I would never get better. I've had wicked cases of the flu ("Martian Death Flu"), but I have never been as sick as I was with salmonella.

Months later, I went back to the ER to thank the doctor for his good care, and he told me I had such a severe case that if I hadn't been so healthy going into it, I might not have survived.

I never ate liver again.

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Comments (4)

janie_ga
15 years ago
My parents had it this summer- got if from my Granny's house (she did NOT handle that very well). They were in the hospital across the hall from each other. I was in WV and they kept telling me they were fine and I should not come home. When it was over, they decided they would rather die than to go through that again.
marilyn_c
15 years ago
I don't know. I've had some kind of stomach bug before...one time lasted for several days...but don't recall that I ran a fever. Whatever it was, I didn't go to the doctor, but then, I never do if I think there is any possibility that I will eventually recover. I went to the doctor...and later the emergency room last fall when I had pneumonia. I thought I was about ready to die then...just fever and feeling deathly ill....got it from cleaning up a moldy old building.

I don't eat undercooked liver, but I eat very, very (as in cold) steak all the time. Has never made me sick tho.
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lydia1959
15 years ago
That sounds terrible Alisande.

I don't know that I had Salmonella, but I did get a very bad case of food poisoning a few years ago. It was when we had the foreign exchange student and it was the only time in the year that she showed any concern for any of my family. LOL I had ate at a Chinese restaurant and while I was eating the egg drop soup (?).. I found an odd chewy piece of meat which did not taste right... but being in a restaurant I swallowed it anyhow. Big mistake. Less than 48 hours later I started throwing up and didn't stop for 3 days. I ended up sick for about 2 weeks. That was the worst I had ever felt in my entire life.
ont_gal
15 years ago
yes,I too have had it

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