2009-10-03 - the fountain of Ms. Penguin

And no, it's not the fountain of youth kind of thing...

Ms. Penguin is really starting to hate fancy schmancy places. When she goes bush camping, where there are no modern facilities and questionable hygienic conditions at times, she stays perfectly healthy. When she goes to fancy places, well...

The queasiness started right after breakfast and got really bad when we were at Bilton. Ms. Penguin was enjoying her wine tasting, and the next thing she knew she was leaning over the loo, puking in the porcelain, and had she been standing up, well, think Mr. Creosote of Monty Python fame. Yeah, just like that. Mr. Penguin was in the men's loo and heard it; he thought it was someone pouring a bucket of water or something into the toilet. And while puking provided temporary relief, it did not end. Ms. Penguin just got more and more queasy, pukey, and miserable, and the problem didn't end there. Literally. You have an imagination. Use it.

So bloody typical... the one day the Penguins meet people, and something like this has to happen. Ms. Penguin was not only feeling like crap from what was probably food poisoning (from breakfast?), she was feeling quite bad about not being very social. Not a good combination at all. Ugh ugh ugh...

When Ms. Penguin got back to her room at the guest lodge, she tried to sleep and drink some fluids. Mr. Penguin was kind enough to run out to the local Checkers (supermarket) to bring her some ginger ale (and it was proper ginger ale too!), and she managed to drink it, but a lot of it came right out again. She couldn't drink a lot of water because it was causing stomach cramps, and diluting what salts were left in her body. Food was out of the question...

In the end, and quite late in the evening, Mr. Penguin had to drive Ms. Penguin to the emergency room (Stellenbosch Medi-Clinic). After the initial paperwork, Ms. Penguin was first seen by a nurse, and then the doctor, who ordered a rehydration drip that also included a cocktail of anti-nausea medication, painkillers, anti-diarrhoea medication, electrolytes, and medication for fever. Or something like that (Ms. Penguin was a bit too groggy to get it all). She was on that drip for nearly two hours, but felt considerably better afterward. She left the clinic with a prescription for a nice cocktail of meds in her hand, which she obtained the following day.

Kudos to the staff at the Medi-Clinic. They were great!

And no, this entry will not include photos!