Came for the BMW, stayed for the norovirus

Warning: Long post. Contains poo.

So, some of you may have heard about my week, but so I only have to tell the story once, here's my tale:

I was scheduled for a BMW press event in Las Vegas. New M235i factory race car. Despite having to get up at the ungodly hour of 5am on Monday, things seemed to be looking up when I got bumped to 1st class on my flight from Atlanta to Vegas. so far, so good.

Because they were only bringing in four people to drive the race car, it was also a much more mellow event than a typical BMW launch. The regular M235i launch was going on at the same time, and we were sort of a program within a program. BMW typically schedules stuff from the moment your feet hit the ground until you leave, but for this one I had the rest of Monday to lounge in Vegas, get some work done, and enjoy a delicious buffet.

Tuesday morning Matt Russell from BMW picked me up from the hotel to head out to the track for my drive. Like I said, small event. No buses or cattle calls. When I got downstairs, Matt also mentioned that we'd also be taking Jason Cammisa out with us, who had missed his earlier time slot as he was recovering from a bout with "food poisoning." Place in quotations for ominous foreshadowing.

Jason—normally and well-kept, handsome dude—looked like he had been through the ringer. As we drove out to the track, he recalled his tale of some 36 hours prior where he and three friends had gotten "food poisoning" from a restaurant in New York, with all the gruesome details and descriptions of bodily unease associated within. But also the miserable flulike symptoms that they got as well...

So we get to the track, I hang with the BMW guys, drive the car (which is awesome—video coming soon), do a podcast, chat with Joey Hand, who is also a super cool dude, despite having broken more bones that Evel Kneivel, then get ready to head back to the hotel. At 4:23pm local time it hit me. I know it was 4:23, because that's when I texted my wife "All done at track. Heading back to hotel soon. Not feeling so hot. Like I have to hurl all of a sudden. Not flu, more like something I ate. Hope I'm okay."

I went downstairs to get some fresh air and wait for Matt, who was my ride back to the hotel. The fresh air was nice, but it didn't last long. It hit me harder the second time. My 4:34 text to Dana: "OMG. Just got the sweats and started wretching. WTF. This hit me in like two minutes."

Now, I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so my heaves found no purchase, but the noise, and utter loss of bodily control was distressing. Luckily I had found a quiet hole behind a building to hide in.

I gathered my composure in time for Matt to appear and say "hey, can you drive this M235i back to the hotel?" Oh hell yes I can. The last thing I needed was to be sitting beside BMW Motorsport's PR guy dry heaving and turning into so much human goo.

I hit me once more during the drive back to the hotel. Still no actual substance, which was nice. We're supposed to be getting a long-term M235i in the fleet, and I'm sure if I puked in one then that would be the one they'd send us.

When I got back to the room, though. all bets were off. I barely made it in the door and got my pants off before the other end let loose. Look, I have a bit of a sensitive digestive system to begin with, so I'm no stranger to the green apple quickstep, but this was ferocity unlike anything that's ever exited any hole in my body.

The rest of Tuesday was kind of a blur. Shortly after I got back i started to get the worst flu-like symptoms I can ever remember having. Sweats, aches, fever, dizziness. Everything. The only thing I remember from the rest of Tuesday is occasionally dragging myself to the bathroom for my body to somehow forcibly excrete what could only imagine was now chunks of my organs. I also remember around midnight gathering my wits enough to realize that my heart rate was probably 120 at least. That was cause for concern, but I sort of passed out again, so it would have to wait.

Around 3-4am, I woke up feeling slightly better. Or at least stable. No longer on the downward spiral. I also started assembling things in my brain—and maybe the fact that CNN had been on the hotel TV all night had helped—that Maybe Jason didn't have food poisoning after all. After hearing the tale of the infected cruise ship, and the fact that his colleagues had also become sick—even though they had different meals—I surmised I was the latest victim of a strain of the lovely and talented norovirus.

I was supposed to fly home Wednesday morning, but there was no way I was fit to be on a plane. Plus, I figured if it was norovirus, the last place I needed to be was in a giant metal tube diseasing my fellow travelers. Although for some of the giant berkeleying bags people try to pass off as carryons these days, they kind of desire it.

As luck would have it, it wasn't going to happen anyway. Icepocalypse had screwed up all the airports in the east, and it looked like my connection from Charlotte to Daytona was in jeopardy. The LAST place I wanted to be was stuck in an airport all night, so the good folks at USAir kindly rescheduled me for free. BMW was kind enough to pick up the hotel for an extra night, and I spent most of Wednesday scuttling to my computer sending emails that said "yeah, I'm up, I'm gonna try and get a few things done blah blah blah." but mostly sleeping a sort of fitful, fluey half-sleep. I did manage to walk to Walgreen's about a quarter mile away (did you know the Walgreen's on the Vegas Strip has a doorman?) and get a bunch of Gatorade and water and some Immodium. I apologize to every ticket salesman between my hotel and the Walgreen's who I basically brushed off with a diseased grunt.

Thursday's flight home was unpleasant, but at least I was going home. Today (Friday), I'm feeling mostly normal, except for the sharp pains in my chest and back from all the heaving, and the slightly weary feeling from not having any real food for going on four days now.

So there's my story. Long post, I know, but it feels good to sort of go over the whole thing in my head and piece it together. I emailed Jason and haven't heard back yet. I'm curious to see how he and his friends fared.

TL;DR

You didn't miss much

Oh, good. I can stop wasting my phone battery on facebook and read it here...

So what happened to the M235i? Did it fit in "carry on" ?

Jason owes you a ride along or something, he was contagious.

Yeah.... i had "food poisoning" recently, too.

Which i didn't think was odd until the wife got food poisoning 2 days later.

I feel for you. I lost 10lbs in two days.

I feel like I need to wash my hands and take some echinacea after reading that.

PHeller wrote: Jason owes you a ride along or something, he was contagious.

My thoughts as well. So here's my question to those medically smarter than me. Is 6-7 hours enough time for norovirus to take hold? Also, I had some raw oysters at dinner on Monday. Those are common transmitters of norivirus. If it was the shellfish, it would be more like an 18-20 hour gestation.

It just seems like way too much of a coincidence, but I suppose it could have been.

I had food poisoning in Vegas once. Let's just say, having the tub right next to the toilet was useful.

Swank Force One wrote: Yeah.... i had "food poisoning" recently, too. Which i didn't think was odd until the wife got food poisoning 2 days later. I feel for you. I lost 10lbs in two days.

Yeah, this^^^ I went thru it about a month ago...

I attributed mine to some sketchy crab wantons from the food court at the mall. I felt like I was in the hatch from Lost ...Every 102 minutes I was flopping down the hall in a fitful attempt to not ruin the furniture or the carpet with my liquified intestines. 3 days and 16 lbs later, I started getting back to normal. Lysol went all over everything, we even boiled the sheets in a big stock pot. Somehow, SWMBO avoided Bowels of DOOM.

Thought I got food poisoning Friday night from Sushi. 5 days later the realization of norovirus set in too.

Luckily I didn't emit that many bodily fluids during the time. Still can't eat without getting heartburn I've had cereal for dinner all week.

Went to bed last night w/ the pre-sickness cold aches. Woke up w/ chest congestion. I was bummed about being kinda sick over the weekend. Now I feel like I dodged a burrito-blowout-esque bullet.

Just found out that there was a huge noro outbreak in Vegas at the SHOT show, which was the week prior to me being there. Sounds like the town is going to need to stock up on Charmin.

4cylndrfury wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Yeah.... i had "food poisoning" recently, too. Which i didn't think was odd until the wife got food poisoning 2 days later. I feel for you. I lost 10lbs in two days.

Yeah, this^^^ I went thru it about a month ago... I attributed mine to some sketchy crab wantons from the food court at the mall. I felt like I was in the hatch from *Lost* ...Every 102 minutes I was flopping down the hall in a fitful attempt to not ruin the furniture or the carpet with my liquified intestines. 3 days and 16 lbs later, I started getting back to normal. Lysol went all over everything, we even boiled the sheets in a big stock pot. Somehow, SWMBO avoided Bowels of DOOM.

I'm pretty sure my piss was chunkier and darker than what was happening from good old #2.

(chunkier may be a SLIGHT, i say SLIGHT exaggeration. Darker? No.)

PROTIP:Dude in front of walgreens was a bouncer. Good thing you didn't try to make off with any Imodium

I haven't had the pleasure of norovirus, but I got e-coli a few years ago. My incubation time was pretty well documented. I bought a meatball sandwich at about 11:40 am, and first started noticing disturbing burps around 5 pm. I was on a ladder at about 9 am the next morning when I started getting very dizzy. I climbed down and it was party-on for the next three or four days. Every time I thought it was over and I could start eating again, it came back. I eventually made it to the ER for a few liters of IV fluid and antibiotics.

Here's a bit of info that you may find helpful: When I started eating again, I thought I would do my system a favor and just eat stuff like fruit, vegetables and oatmeal. That didn't really turn out so well. After another visit with the doctor, he told me that my body wasn't ready to handle fiber. I basically ate meat and yogurt for about a week and a half. You need yogurt with active cultures to replenish all the good bacteria that you need down below.

Swank Force One wrote:

4cylndrfury wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Yeah.... i had "food poisoning" recently, too. Which i didn't think was odd until the wife got food poisoning 2 days later. I feel for you. I lost 10lbs in two days.

Yeah, this^^^ I went thru it about a month ago... I attributed mine to some sketchy crab wantons from the food court at the mall. I felt like I was in the hatch from *Lost* ...Every 102 minutes I was flopping down the hall in a fitful attempt to not ruin the furniture or the carpet with my liquified intestines. 3 days and 16 lbs later, I started getting back to normal. Lysol went all over everything, we even boiled the sheets in a big stock pot. Somehow, SWMBO avoided Bowels of DOOM.

I'm pretty sure my piss was chunkier and darker than what was happening from good old #2. (chunkier may be a SLIGHT, i say SLIGHT exaggeration. Darker? No.)

Pretty much the exact same color and consistency as the "butter" they put on movie theater popcorn. Probably tastes about the same, too.

I had the same thing last year, also at the beginning of a trip. You haven't lived life until you puke into toilet on a moving bus. Well, maybe you have.

In the June 1979 Car and Driver, P.J. O'Rourke chronicled a trip to Wisconsin to go snowmobiling. Actually, he wrote about being desperately ill in a gastro-intestinal sense, the result of a meal-gone-wrong at a Bob Evans the day prior. He spent the entirety of the trip in a motel room, "unable to decide which end of his body to point at the toilet".

I read this story in the library at Montgomery College in Rockville MD in, I'd guess, May of 1979, and I was laughing so hard I was nearly ejected from the premises by the librarian.

So there's precedence for the work above.

Mitchell wrote: I had the same thing last year, also at the beginning of a trip. You haven't lived life until you puke into toilet on a moving bus. Well, maybe you have.

Bad shrimp prior to getting on the last plane leaving Atlanta before being shut down due to a storm. Roughest flight I had ever been on. When I checked in at the counter, I informed the staff I would be needing a larger than average puke bag. They sent me to the gift shop for a large plastic bag. Took off in the 'head' and stayed for most of the trip.

Oooooo. Sure makes the flu that I've been fighting this week seem like kid stuff.

Be careful for the next two weeks. I'd recommend separating out any of your laundry and taking care of it yourself during that time period. That's one of the precautions I took when it hit me a couple years ago, and managed to keep from spreading it to my wife. I went from fine in the morning when I got up to go to work, to an ambulance ride to the ER at 10 PM.

You went on a junket to drive an awesome race car and now I know more about your poop than said car. I did laugh at your pain, which was nice, but I still want to know more about the car.

glad to hear your better - I got sick one time in 14 years of being on the road selling and being sick in a hotel room is nasty.