I'm really grateful you are OK and are going to be fine. We all can take a lesson away from this. In no way are my comments directed at the OP specifically. But after reading your story and since the majority of our Aldeer family are men, and me being a member of the medical profession, I feel compelled to say a few words.

Guys, we know our bodies and we know when something isn't right. When you feel something is wrong with you, get it checked out. Immediately. The reasons for us not doing so vary and I've heard a lot of them in the 25 years I've been in practice. Sometimes it's us (men) not wanting to inconvenience anyone else by having to ask for help. Or the excuse of men not getting medical attention is "I hate doctors." Ok fine. Whatever. However, the vast majority of the time the reason for not seeking medical attention is simply our ego and pride getting in the way. We're men. We can can tough it out. Pop a Goody powder or a Tums and everything will be fine. Some of my graduate work has been looking at this very topic. Multiple epidemiological studies have shown that thousands of men in this country die every year from very treatable and preventable illness simply because they refuse to go to the doctor when something is wrong. Or we never do any preventable care such as getting a physical that can find things before they become a problem. Colon and prostrate cancer lead the way in these deaths with hypertension in the mix. Why? Well some guys don't want to go through a prostate exam because they feel it's a threat to their masculinity. Some men refuse to take their BP meds because of the possible side effects of decreased libido and ED. These side effects are treatable by the way and it takes working with your doctor to find the medicine or treatment that works that minimizes or eliminates the undesirable side effects.

Men, if something is seriously wrong with you, it doesn't get better by waiting. I see it all the time with eyes. For example, many times in my career someone will have a detached retina that starts out with a little blur and the guy says to themselves, "It'll be alright by tomorrow." Well tomorrow comes and it's worse and amazingly, the person will find another excuse not to get it checked out thinking it cannot possibly be worse the next day. Well it is. And the next day and the next. Well a week or so passes by and finally when the vision is like the inside of a cave, they come in. Well, then it's too late and even though the retina can be re-attached, it's like putting a leaf back on a plant with scotch tape after it's been off a week. Yeah, it's back on but it's not going to do any good. However, if the detachment is discovered and fixed quickly, there is an excellent chance that vision can be restored and all is well.

On a more personal note, I'll share this story. It's extreme but true and it brings the message home in a personal way. In 2011 I had an employee leave before lunch on a Friday because he wasn't feeling well. He made a few posts on FB that same afternoon but nothing that indicated anything was seriously wrong. He went dark all weekend and he didn't respond to any text messages. That wasn't too unusual for this guy as he was kind of a loner with few friends so nobody thought much about it. However, when he didn't show up for work the following Monday, every alarm bell went off because he never missed work. After being unable to contact him, his family got very concerned and drove to his house to check on him. They found him dead in his home on lake Jordan. It was obvious he had been coughing blood on the way home Friday as it was found on his steering wheel, dash board,windshield, and the inside door of his car. By the condition of the house, it was apparent that he continued to bleed once he got home and evidently died sometime Friday night or Saturday. Why didn't he call EMS? Why didn't he ask for help Friday? That question still haunts us all to this day. He was able to drive from Montgomery to Lake Jordan (driving by 2 hospitals on the way) and get on the computer afterwards so he definitely could have gotten some help. We'll never know with 100% certainty, but I will always believe he could have been saved had he gotten medical attention the minute he realized something was seriously wrong. Coughing up blood ain't normal, folks!! He was a heck of a great guy too and we still miss him at the office and his family misses him even more.

One of my wife's co-workers was working on his lake place last year when he started having shoulder pain. He attributed it to the work he was doing and kept going. An hour or so later his chest was hurting. It was hot. He was a little winded but he attributed it to the weather and kept working. About 30 minutes later the pain was getting worse but he didn't want to stop working but he decided to go to the ER anyway. All the way to Montgomery he was second guessing his decision. As he told us later, he was sitting in the parking lot of Baptist East thinking he was an idiot for driving all the way down from Lake Martin because by now the pain had subsided slightly and he was feeling a little better. He put his car in "Drive" to go back home but a little voice told him to go ahead and get it checked out. That decision that saved his life. He put the truck back in "Park" and went inside. While he was in triage in the ER, he had a massive heart attack while hooked up to the EKG machine and coded right there. They shocked him a few times and were able to restore a cardiac rhythm. He had a triple bypass the next day. Guys listen to your body. A lot of times it will give you shot across the bow before the crap hits the fan.

BC, I am thankful beyond words that you are alive to write your story. I wish (and hindsight being what it is, I bet you do to) that you had stopped in Illinois or Kentucky or Tennessee as soon as you realized this was not a routine stomach bug or food poisoning and could be serious trouble. You are very fortunate you did not get septic and die before getting proper medical attention. Hopefully your story will be a lesson for us all to take the time to get medical attention when we KNOW something isn't quite right. No matter who it inconveniences or how dumb we may feel for doing it. If it turns out to be nothing, well, I'd rather have that news than have something terrible happen that could be prevented.

Your owe your life to your wife. Get her something nice..like a new shotgun that she will let you use to kill more turkeys up there next year!! Welcome back!

Dr. B