119 Intestinal Distress

Poor Ryan. As he is the Asst. Director of the exchange student program, he often has to deal with students' problems. Just this past Friday, some students came to his office and asked him to help plan their long weekend trip--they were leaving the next day. That evening, he got a phone call from a student in Spain, saying her travel buddy had left his passport on the train and asking what to do. Those problems are relatively easily dealt with, but last night he had a doozy.

A student called at 4:30 am to say her friend was vomiting and was having horrible stomach pain. Since she didn't speak very good English and her friend spoke even less, Ryan had to take the girl to the hospital to translate. It turns out that she was, um, backed up and that was the cause of the vomiting and cramps. Poor Ryan had to break the news to this girl that she was full of poo and that she would be getting an enema. Nothing like early morning poop-shoot cleansing to bring two people together.

This afternoon we ran into the girl and her friends leaving downtown to go to the 'pharmacie' for her medicine. She was appreciative and a bit embarrassed, as one can imagine.
I've been worried about something similar happening to me since there's a whole lot of white crusty bread and cheese around, but almost nothing with any fiber. Luckily, I picked up a box of cereal at the grocery store that bears a strong resemblance to Super Colon Blow Cereal. I think I'll survive.