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288 and Both Ends

Alas I cannot find the scene but there is a bit in Ted Lasso where the most cheerful football player Danny Rojas recounts a bout of food poisoning saying “I was sick out of both ends. The body truly is a miracle!”

It’s a pretty good joke because having food poisoning doesn’t feel terribly miraculous. The indignity of shitting and vomiting at the same time doesn’t invite existential awe for most people. I can say this with some certainty as I got to enjoy this particular miracle today. I’m not entirely sure if it was food poisoning, but I was juggling squatting and kneeling and I didn’t feel like my body was a miracle at all.

Maybe in hindsight I can recognize how impressive it is that my body has the capacity to rid itself of a poisonous toxin with such efficiency. But good grief is it miserable as it is happening.

I’ve debated if pain or nausea is worse. Pain is a tricky beast that consumes your capacity to live. But nausea can capture your attention more completely. You can tough out some kinds of pain, perhaps manage your capacity to tolerate it through mental gymnastics and medication. But nausea demands relief. When you have to expel a toxin, you better run as it may arrive before you arrive at the safety of a toilet.

I hate the feeling of being nauseous as there is simply little else you can do but let your body run whatever course is necessary. Which I suppose is a miracle. Maybe Danny Rojas is right. I feel absolutely fine right now. A full 10 hours of miraculous misery later I have recovered. Just in time to go to bed.