Seven great lessons from being sick

I had stomach flu from last Friday to Sunday. There are several insights from being sick this time.

First, everything has consequences. We reap what we sow. I only slept for 3 hours last Tuesday night due to unnecessary procrastination for reviewing a journal article. I thought it was ok, but two days later, I was down with fever and weak body which then lead to vomiting on Sunday.

Second, I realize I don’t know how to vomit. To be exact where to vomit. Instead of vomiting to the toilet bowl, I vomitted to the wash basin that it became choked due to the food I vomited. This is a disgusting but good analogy on why we need to fail early. I seldom vomit when I was kid and so I don’t really know where to vomit.

Third, there is blessings in disguise. It is written that “all things work together for good to those who love God.” The wash basin I mentioned was a bit choked for a long time, perhaps due to many reasons over a long period of time. My vomit triggered to the ultimate choke where we needed to call the plumbers immediately. We paid a lot, 180, a value which may be cheaper as that is the plumber of which number is written in the sticker outside my house, not a result of a good search in the internet. But at least now the flow is good, better than before I vomited.

Fourth, waiting is not comfortable but necessary. I went to the accident and emergency department with the hope to get the drip. It was a new hospital but the waiting hours was 3-4 hours. Thank God that I need to wait for less than 3 hours, namely 2 hours 50 minutes. But it was still tough to wait, especially as the number is not necessarily called in sequence. We need to watch out, a skill mentioned in the bible but I seldom practice.

Fifth, when there is a problem, there is a learning. While waiting to be called by the doctor, I read up several articles on stomach flu and find many interesting articles such as the process of vomiting, that stomach flu has no specific medicine other than resting, and how to re-hydrate ourselves, that we need electrolytes instead of pure water after vomiting.

Sixth, I realize that I am very cranky when I am sick. I threatened my wife several times by saying that I could not eat this and that; and that I will vomit if I eat this and that - before I really vomited due to other reasons.

Seventh, my wife is really a great and loving wife. She bears all my crankiness and she made nice oats porridge for me to have breakfast. She even took time off today so that she can still make breakfast for me although she has to go to work today.

Well, I don’t hope to get sick again. But at least now I know that even when we get sick, there are things to learn.