A new respect for microbes.

I made up a song that went something like this:
E.coli, B.coli, C.coli......I just don't care.
Well, I never really cared about them until about 3 days ago....

I was walking back from the grocery store here in the Saitama prefecture of Tokyo and experienced a major rumble in my stomach. At first I was quite happy about this because it was the first noticeable bowel movement since I had arrived in Japan almost a week earlier. I was eager to get home and experience some major relief from ongoing constipation.

After 2 days of uninterrupted 'relief' I began to worry about the true cause of all this. I diagnosed myself with a stomach flu, a burst appendix and was sure that I would go into septic shock very soon. Maybe I should mention that I am a hypochondriac, but it sure was PAINFUL (and still is)!

I finally went to the doctor today and his diagnosis was that I had contracted something akin to a Entero(hemmoragic) Colitis, which is a bacterial infection of the colon caused by Enterohemorrhagic E. coli resulting in a dysenteric diarrhea. Look it up in the web if you care to know my symptoms; they are not fun.

So, I am confined to my room here in Japan and have ample time to start blogging about my trip (more about the fun stuff in future posts).
This first post is dedicated to E.coli, Salmonella and the verotoxins - I will respect you from now on and keep my hands off dangerous foods.

Mike you were right all along!
Kudos.