He drank Pepto, and saw that it was good...

Picking up where our adventurer had just left off...

I had just waved to my parents while they drove back to their own home, after a wonderful brunch with them.

I spent the rest of that day/evening in recovery mode.  Family visits, even when they go smooth as butter like this one, are just a liiiiiitle bit stressful.  I was exhausted.  Don't get me wrong apart from the Museum and the Awful Sushi, it really was a lot of fun.  Actually it was shockingly fun to hang out with my parents, I just hope that never gets around to my 13-year-old self.  But even though it was fun it was still just a little bit stressful.  And Monday morning I found out that the stress must have been keeping my stomach cramps at bay or was the reason that the "situation" had lasted so long (about 5 days).

I woke up feeling like how I assume that one guy must have felt just when the alien popped out of his stomach.  Between the pain and the resulting ... follow-up, I had to call in to work because I don't think I could've made it through the two minute drive to work without a toilet in my car.

The cramps were so painful I even called the nurseline to see if I might need to go to the ER.  Apparently the message was, if they don't get better in a week, then go see someone, otherwise tough it out with some water and white bread. But I trusted them, and spent the day eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drinking three liters of Smart Water.  And when I went to bed that night, I was exhausted.  It was as if I had run a marathon... with my butt.

The next day was a little iffy, but if I might compare the two:  I would say Monday was like someone had fed me sharp rocks in an effort to polish them, and Tuesday was like little butterflies were flapping their wings in my stomach.  One was basically me-laying-on-my-couch-and-just-praying-for-the-sweet-release-of-death pain, and the other was I'm-so-over-the-whole-stomach-thing-and-ready-to-go-to-work-already irritation.

The moral of that story?  If you are sick, take the time off and just rest already.  Pushing through the illness just makes it last 5 times longer.

Final Catch Up Segment:  The Professor 101