Worst thing that can happen to a roadfooder

Well, maybe not the worst but awfully bad:  food poisoning.  And I got it at home, not in a restaurant, mostly because I keep stuff too long because I'm too cheap to throw it out.  Anyway, this led to a trip to the ER thinking I was having a heart attack (in the beginning I mostly had chest pain) and probably a bill for about $15,000 (most covered by Medicare and Tricare I hope).  The hospital they took me to was Tucson's UMC (of Gabrielle Giffords fame) but I came in the back emergency entrance in an ambulance so I didn't even get to see the media circus out front.  Nor did I meet anyone famous in the halls.
 
After 4 days, beginning to feel better now.

you are't going to tell us what it was you ate?

Zowee, that is some serious food poisoning! Glad to read you are improving.

 
I had it twice.  Both times on the road. 
 
Once from a hotdog at Daytona Raceway and another time from some saloon in Atlanta.
 
I was afraid I'd die ... and I was afraid I wouldn't.

I got a terrible case of it at Rehobeth Beach Deleware in 1969, I really thought I was going to die, I guess I almost did, I was completely dehydrated by the time I went to the hospital
My cousins had a catered family party, the Famous Ridgewell's Caterers in the DC area, they all ended up with a $25000 settlement.

At my mom's house, we call that playing Russian Roulette with her refrigerator. Hope you are feeling better. 

Twice for me-----once from bad sauerkraut from a sleezy diner in Astoria, Queens, NY.  Tasted funny, but i thought it was me.  Probably reheated a dozen times.  Spent a bad afternoon as i remember
 
Second time, a restaurant in Chatham NY.  Forgot what I ate, but I was sick all night.  The next morning, while trying to get me home, before he had a corpse on his hands,  my assistant engineer got a ticket for speeding.  The cop couldn't care if I died on the spot-----I have his badge # here somewhere.  Bad luck to you,  buddy.  Hope your motorcycle runs
over you.  Been sticking pins in a cop doll for 10 years. 

Oh BT, I'm so sorry!  The last year or so I've had two run-ins with eggs, one out somewhere and one prepared here at my house, that have made me start buying a better grade.  I would pretty much rather have dental surgery than food poisoning--it is no fun.  Hope you're well on the way to a quick mend!

bill voss


you are't going to tell us what it was you ate?

 
Pimento cheese I had just opened before my trip and couldn't bear to toss out either before I left or when I got back 3 weeks later.
 
Thanks to all well-wishers.  Today's the day I feel "sort of" better and can't decide if I dare try real food (something beyond chicken/rice soup) yet.

 Luckily, I have never had the dreaded food poisoning. I know from food servers class that it takes 24-36 hours to incubate in the body. Most people equate what they last ate to the poisoning. In almost every case this isn't true. Try to remember the last 24 hours not the last meal you had.
 
  JMHO
 
  David O.

stricken_detective


At my mom's house, we call that playing Russian Roulette with her refrigerator. Hope you are feeling better. 

That's what my sister, my father and I called picking the one of us who would have to eat my mother's cooking.

Shellfish did it to me, on two separate occasions -- once, steamed oysters at a famous seafood place in Hilton Head (which shall be nameless) and once, mussels at a hotel restaurant near Inverness in Scotland.
 
And no, I do not have a shellfish allergy or sensitivity.  I have eaten oysters, as well as lobsters and crabs, in many guises at many locations around the world, both before and since.
 
However, I've never been able to bring myself to eat mussels again after that episode.
 

boyardee65


 Luckily, I have never had the dreaded food poisoning. I know from food servers class that it takes 24-36 hours to incubate in the body. Most people equate what they last ate to the poisoning. In almost every case this isn't true. Try to remember the last 24 hours not the last meal you had.

JMHO

David O.

 
Mostly true and in my case the nasty pimento cheese was eaten about 36 hours before I got sick--I settled on it as the cause because I just didn't eat anything subsequent to that that was at all suspicious (eaten uncooked etc).   But there is some variation depending on the type of "food poisoning".  Actually, what I had, which was probably (based on the food and symptoms) staphylococcal, often comes on quicker than other forms (within 12 hours) since it effects mainly the stomach rather than the intestines lower down.  Other types like salmonella or shigella or even various viral forms take longer as you say.
 
BT (MD)

Sorry to hear of this , my friend. Glad you are better.