Grow your own and eat your own.

This was my experience from living in Bolivia. Everyone we traveled with got sick except us. We got terribly sick after getting back to the states. Both husband and kids got a stomach thing and I got bronchitis. I'm willing to bet we got it in the Miami airport. In fairness, I got headaches from the air in La Paz. Freaking no oxygen apparently doesn't bother most of my peasant family.

 

Well about 11pm here and the first time since Sunday evening that I have got up and not felt like Andre the Giant had both hands around my guts twisting them into knots! Stomach is still very weak and I am overall wore out. 3+ solid days of agony, dehydration and misery all the way around. Glad I let Mrs. T5R take me to the hospital this morning and I got that IV and the gut straightened out. Don't care how big and tough you are 3 days of that turns you into a sissy LOL I Weighed 282 pounds when I went to the hospitals urgent care at 8am Tuesday morning and on the same scale Wednesday morning 3 am I weighed 269.......... 13 pounds of fluid loss in what 18-19 hours... Guess this is a good time to kick my diet off to get back down to 250 pounds! And a good time to stop smoking as well since I have not fired one up since Monday morning.

 

Thunder5Ranch, I am glad that you are better and as the old Coastie used to say, Experience is a cruel teacher, you have the final exam, then you are taught the lesson. Sounds as if without modern medicine keeping you hydrated until your immune system kicked in, you could have died. If we do have a SHTF situation, most people will die from things like norovirus, cholera, infected minor cuts, etc, that are treated now with medications as a matter of course. I do not do well with MSG and a lot of the preservatives they use in salad bars and just don't eat them. It really creates a stir when you have a salad, your throat closes up and you can't breathe, the ambulance comes and hauls you away, and the chain restaurant management, the same ones that use the prepackaged salads, tell the other customers that you had a heart attack. So the real question, what do you think the real cost of that salad was, not counting the pain and suffering? Several days lost work, business affected, hospital charges, tests, IV's and drugs, etc. For those of us without medical insurance or a high deductible, a simple salad at your local chain restaurant can turn into a SHTF financial situation and even if you do sue and win, the lawyers will take most of it and what you do get will arrive years later and the media will paint it as "Man sues for 25,000 for bad salad" and most people will figure you for a gold digger. You can't win and if you buy packaged foods, you have no idea where they were raised, who handled them, if they were refrigerated correctly and so on. Thank you for sharing with us and the valuable lesson that being as self reliant as you can be is very important at all times.

 

in my yard with all my garden i have purslane,chickweed,dead nettle regular nettle ,clover and sorrel,wild lettuce wild onion/garlic/raspberry and blackberry.plantain,poke, just to name a few --wont go hungry anytime soon

 

That salads cost just rough guessing. First urgent care visit $250, 5 hours in the ER, CT Scan, drugs, IVs, Pump and probe probably in the $25,000-$30,000 range. 2 weeks of lost business hard to say as it has slowed down from the first few weeks as it has gotten a lot hotter, and people opt for AC brick and mortars and the new is wearing off but probably $10,000. So my guess is a total of around $40,000. My saving grace is I am on the wifes insurance and the total cost to me will be around $800. 3 days of agony...... who can put a price tag on that kind of pain. The sepsis in 2016 ended up costing $1,270,000 for just the treatments and 9 days in ICU. Again being on the wifes insurance was the saving grace and the total out of pocket for me on that one was $12,000 + 2 years of basically being out of business.

Yeah without those IVs and the untwisting my gut I was not going to last long between the dehydration and blockage. Most likely would not be here this fine Thursday morning complaining about the last of the stomach cramps as this virus winds down.

 

No there isn't just a hard habit to kick after 40+ years.

 

A $40,000 US salad!?! I'm sorry, President Trump. I didn't realize you were a member here, as well.

 

@Thunder5Ranch "I got that IV and the gut straightened out."
So, how did they straighten out your gut?

"And a good time to stop smoking as well since I have not fired one up since Monday morning."
Yes, by all means possible. It's worse than Heroin and a harder habit to kick.

"So my guess is a total of around $40,000."
What can I say about medical care costs in this country that I haven't already said... It's Blackmail, pure and simple. It's corruption and control at the highest level of the nation and all made perfectly legal - of course. The cost of a doctor visit here is almost 4X more than in Canada and the medicine I take cost 6X more. And, while my Senators and Congressman talk a good line, it will never change, too many powerful entities. Every ask yourself why is there such a doctor shortage? We give billions away in Foreign Aid but cannot give some of that money to pay for the schooling of doctors the nation needs. Medical Care in this country is nothing more than a huge criminal organization. And, all they every talk about is Medical Insurance never the real problem which is Medical Care. Something has to change and soon...

Anyway, I don't wish to get on a rant but nothing burns me more than the Medical Care topic. Glad to hear you are on the mend. As for me, I don't think I will be eating salads or anything that isn't cooked in any restaurants - ever!

 

I don't really remember how, I was pretty much out of it. I suspect it was the muscle relaxers and the probe that went down after the pump. LOL I don't even remember the pump tube going down and if that is something you have ever had done before........ Yeah it is hard to miss. Might have just been twisted where stomach meets intestine and the muscle relaxers let it untwist. That one I will have to ask my wife when she gets home tonight. All she has said about that part of it was "Stomach pumping is one of the grossest things I have ever seen!"

 

I am the first to complain about the medical racket, but would have died at age 7 without the then brand new antibiotics and I kind of appreciate the gift of the last 73 years. I wish we could get back to medical care and out of medical business, but when you need it, you are in no shape to do anything else so they got you.

 

Half can of Coke squeeze in a half lemon and 1 heaping teaspoon of corn starch mix and chug it down snack on saltine crackers repeat until your guts quit feeling like you ate a broken beer bottle.

A good home treatment for exterior vegetable cleaning is peroxide 3% put it in a sprayer, spray both sides of leaves and especially the stem area let fizz for a bit minute or so and then rinse. Most kitchen staff is not taught cleanliness or procedures for handling food properly and their homeland environs are shockingly disgusting, but they work cheap and hard for their money I blame the company for not educating and oversight.

It's gotten where there's no testing for marriage much less food service workers the list of diseases sounds like people being treated at the Mayo clinic or Sloan Kettering. It has come to a point where HIV-AIDS is not even on the radar Herpes is a real and ever increasing STD that is not contained by those crappy thin disposable food service gloves. I seldom go anywhere because of the totally lax requirements and worse the lazy fair attitudes of the management. It has gotten to the point where wait staff expect a tip for minimal service with a disinterested demeanor unwholesome dress and nasty fingernails I just get up chew out the manager and leave.

 

Well you just described everyone but MOST of us in food service. Beyond that I am not going to say much except this, I tried several of those home brews everyone suggest and swears by, including yours. When they hit your stomach and come right back up they are worthless. I tried them to the point that I was face down ass up on the concrete 25 feet from the ER doors convulsing from dehydration. Not exactly how I want to exit this life More so when there was legitimate help in the form of IVs and modern medicine just a few more steps away.

 

yep you got a real bad dose when it comes to that as I recall they hit me with peregrine and codeine or morphine.that was a long time ago bad tuna I find that cooked to a char well done keeps the projectile vomiting away. another reason why I am not a vegan too many fresh mexican vegetables where they are not too careful with untreated human or animal manure.

 

@Thunder5Ranch glad you are feeling better and you are right good time to quit. I quit 8 times before it stuck. Keep quitting until it sticks.

 

What a story and glad you are feeling better @Thunder5Ranch. The kids and I like going to the local salad bar for dinner but after your story I am thinking that might not be a very good idea. The salad bar we go to is laid out from 11 a.m. till closing.

 

Anything you eat carries a risk and 99% of the time it is safe, it is that 1% of a bad batch of lettuce or sprouts or whatever that is infested with a bad bacteria that gets you...... or may never get you. I have never had Norovirus before and I can say without question it was the most painful long lasting illness I have ever had (With the exception of the Sepsis) Sunday through Wednesday nothing but nonstop grinding stomach cramps, Thursday I was finally able to keep gatorade and crackers down, and tried a can of veggie soup..... The soup was too much Trying another can of soup today though. Atleast the constant cramps are gone

 

Oh man, that sounds like a horrible time! Good to hear you're feeling better!

Growing your own food is a great idea, especially in a global economy. When lettuce from Mexico makes us sick, and tsunamis in Asia cause the cost of grain to skyrocket, you know having control over your own source of food is a good plan!