We had an unplanned hospital trip this evening to A&E in Stirling.
We had just left the house to drive to Stirling when The Runner said "I feel a bit funny." By the time we reached the village 4 mins later his whole head, face and neck were red. Not just a bit red. I mean REALLY REALLY BRIGHT RED, as if he had sat in the sun for 24 hours without suncream. He still wanted to go to Stirling so I insisted we change places so I could drive. By the time we got there 15 mins later he also had a splitting headache.
Now sensible people like me would go straight to A&E to get a medical opinion. Not The Runner. I insisted on calling The Doctor to get his opinion. Funnily enough his advice was also go to A&E. Since The Runner always waits for someone else to confirm my opinion on most things, we then went straight to Stirling Royal Infirmary.
In medical matters I would usually expect that doctors and nurses know what they're talking about. However, I was a bit concerned when the triage nurse said she'd never seen anything like it! But when the doctor said she'd never seen anything like it either I was extremely concerned!! And when she said she'd go and Google his symptoms I was nearly on the floor!!!
After a quick Google she came back and diagnosed scrombotoxin - food poisoning from eating oily fish and sometimes Swiss cheese. It's a naturally occurring bacteria in fish like mackerel that becomes toxic if inadequately kept chilled. It can occur any time from the time the fish is caught until it lands on your plate. Within an hour of eating the symptoms appear. The Runner ate 2 fresh mackerel fillets 30 mins before we left the house.
Fortunately his symptoms died down quickly after some paracetamol for the headache and an anti histamine for the rash. The sickness and diarrhoea took a bit longer! He's fine now.
I wonder how much mileage The Runner will get out of this. Many years ago I got a speeding ticket for doing 83 mph on an empty bypass. I was teased mercilessly for years until he got one himself! Any cracks about my cooking will earn him a week of eating sandwiches. Tinned mackerel and Swiss cheese ones!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Excellent!! I must remember not to include Mackerel on my whw race diet!!
Hope you have a good time at the Open this week.
John
There are going to be some threads along the lines what's red, smells of fish and runs all the time.
I trust WHW runner has made a speedy recovery and hope to catch up with you both at Perth
Stan
Hi Ali,
Got your request on my blog and will be honoured to post it.
I read with distress of Ian's poisoning!! And the medical professionals resorting to Google for a diagnosis!!
As John's said above, along with fried chicken, oily fish now struck off the pre-WHW Race menu.
BTW, Congrats on your management of the Creiff 10k.
Dave
x
Post a Comment