While most people were enjoying Thanksgiving turkey, Daniel Goguen was in too much pain to eat.
He is one of almost 160 suspected or confirmed cases of E.coli infection linked to a North Bay, Ont. Harvey's restaurant.
Goguen, a former Miramichi resident who lives in Calander, Ont., went to the Harvey's for supper with a co-worker Oct. 6.
Almost five days passed before any symptoms started to show, he said.
"I didn't connect the dots that it was there."
But when he started to have cramps and diarrhea while waiting for Thanksgiving dinner Goguen said he knew it was because of something he ate.
He just wasn't sure what he ate to make him sick.
"At that point I wasn't thinking much of it because I was in a lot of pain," he said.
He didn't get much sleep that night and when he found blood in his stool, Goguen decided to go to the hospital.
"OK, let's go," he said.
The hospital asked him if he had eaten out anywhere and since Goguen had once that week, it didn't take long to remember where he had been.
"Harvey's," he said.
Goguen said they did a lot of tests and it took almost a week to get the results.
"They thought it was E.coli because of the symptoms I had."
While he was in hospital, they gave him an IV for dehydration and took blood and stool samples, he said.
"There is no treatment."
Although he feels better now, Goguen can't go back to work until he tests negative for E. coli because he is still considered contagious.
When he was at the hospital, the news from one of the nurses wasn't encouraging.
"Do you realize it could be a couple of months that it would still be positive," she said.
Goguen said he is a supervisor at a YMCA and there are a lot of people who depend on him.
"I was a little upset."
Kidney damage is one of the potential long-term effects of E. coli infection, but Goguen said he doesn't know if it will happen to him and it wouldn't happen overnight if it does.
"It's part of the disease, I guess."
Goguen said he hasn't been doing much since he returned home from the hospital.
"I'm basically confined to the basement of my house."
He has considered legal action, but said he doesn't know if it is an option.
"I have to wait until everything is done."
Goguen's mother Jeannette Doak said one of his friends called to say her son had food poisoning because he was in too much pain talk.
"That was unbelievable."
She didn't know to what extent her son was sick, but Doak said she knows what E. coli can do. "I was terrified."
Doak said she knew her son was in good shape because he exercises and works at the YMCA.
"If anybody was going to recover, it was going to be Daniel."
His last blood test was positive for E. coli, but Doak said she hopes the next test will be negative.
"He's out of danger, I think."
Goguen said he hopes it is negative because it could lead to kidney failure if it stays in his system.
"I'm not out of the woods yet."
Doak said she had to detach herself from the situation and leave it in God's hands, because her son is so far away.
"I have a lot of faith," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment