Poisoned

Image from PubMed Health

We will never eat at Buffalo Wild Wings again.

It all started as a great idea: Senpai and I would cycle with R in the chariot to Smoothie King and order delicious smoothies for lunch. Except that the day was Monday, July 4th, and Smoothie King was closed for Independence Day. It was already noon and we had cycled three miles away from our house, so what else could we do but try to find something else nearby to eat. We headed towards the Target shopping center just down the street that had a Buffalo Wild Wings.

The first interesting thing happened when I pulled my bike up next to the.. (can I call it a restaurant? You assume restaurants will feed you quality food, so I'll say no) place. I turned around and noticed an old man standing in Senpai's way. The man appeared to be just spacing out, and Senpai was patiently waiting for him to move so that he could park his bike next to mine and unload R from the chariot. The man suddenly noticed Senpai, said, "Oh, I never do that!" then he shuffled inside. After chaining everything up, we walked in wearing our bike clothes, ordered main dishes and side salads from the lunch menu, then proceeded to feed R the lunch we had prepared for her. You see, we thought we were only going to be slurping smoothies for lunch. I wanted R to have something solid to chomp on which is why I packed her a separate meal. We are so glad I did!

Senpai and my food took forever to arrive. When we were finally able to chow down on our food (I admit, it was delicious), Senpai explained what had happened out front: the old man had been staring at me (I am so oblivious; I never notice unwanted attention). When he turned around and saw Senpai staring HIM down (ha!), Senpai remembered him saying, "That never happens!" Senpai's retort to me over lunch was, "That you got caught?" Ahahaha!

We cycled back home after a quick walk around Target (still in our sweaty bike clothes, oh yeah, you know we were worth checking out ;-). We had guests over for dinner later with barbeque chicken on the menu. I am SO glad that the food poisoning came from Buffalo Wild Wings, and not the food we prepared and served to our guests! Senpai started feeling ill just before the guests left. R must have known that Daddy wasn't feeling well because she snuggled herself into his lap. She never gets cuddly like that with us. The cats and her stuffed animals, yes, but not us. So I took a picture. ^_^


"Will dollies help you feel better, Daddy?"

It was a long night for Senpai: he slept on the couch and was in and out of the bathroom multiple times. I felt fine, so I was quick to blame his malaise on not washing his hands well enough after cleaning a dirty diaper (shows what I know). I woke up around 1 am with my stomach feeling rocky. I blamed it on eating too much for dinner; for some reason my appetite had been HUGE. Feeling more and more uncomfortable, I tossed and turned alone in bed until R woke up at 7. I took her downstairs, did the usual routine of potty and diaper change, and then after I poured her Cheerios it hit me: I puked into the trash can. Ugh. I joined Senpai on the couch for the rest of the morning.

As lunch approached, we realized that we needed help taking care of R. She was doing alright, staring at us on the couch in between episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba! (her new favorite show), but someone would have to prepare lunch for her, pick her up to put her in the high chair and on the potty, and change her diaper. And while Senpai and I could glare at each other all day long, willing the other person to do it, Senpai deemed it a smarter idea to get someone healthy involved. Thankfully one of his friends who works at a school was off for the summer, and we are so grateful to him for coming over. I crawled over to the kitchen to show him what to make for lunch, and then I collapsed back on the couch.

The interesting thing about the sickness affecting Senpai before me is that we went through the exact same symptoms on a delayed timeline. There was a point late Tuesday night when I was convinced that I was in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). My heart was pounding in my chest and my muscles were locked up in burning agony, just the same as when ketones turn my blood to acid from too high blood sugars. But Senpai reassured me that he had experienced exactly the same symptoms earlier in the day, so it must be from the food poisoning. He later said, "Is THAT what it [DKA] feels like?? Don't ever do that to yourself again!" Haha, it's not like I ever try for DKA, but yeah, agony.

We ate nothing on Tuesday. Wednesday gave us slightly more energy, enough for Senpai to go to work, and me to take R to her physical therapy appointment that had been cancelled without my being informed. I dragged myself to that appointment, determined to not let my sickness get in the way of R making progress, for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Just like Osaka from Azumanga Daioh (here comes my otaku nerdiness), I wish the receptionist would "Shikari! Shikari! (Get it together!)" Soup got us all through Wednesday, and then Thursday we were able to tentatively eat real food again.

We are never going to Buffalo Wild Wings ever ever again.