chapter 39 - still continued more

After I regained my strength, I told Colette that we should get to bed. She was already to pass out, but needed to get to the bathroom first. I lowered her legs to the floor and helped her to her feet. I led her to the bathroom and helped he sit down on the toilet. She complained that she really wasn’t faking it. It felt like she really couldn’t use her muscles to move. She peed and I helped her back to her feet, leading her back to the bed. I set the pillows up for her so that when she sat down on the bed she could roll into position half sitting. I told her that, with that much food in her system, she could have a bad case of acid reflux, if she were to actually lay down. I covered her with the blanket and got into bed next ro her. I assumed that it was going to take a while for her to fall asleep, but she was snoring in a minute.

About three hours later, Colette woke me up. “I am not feeling great,” she admitted.

“Maybe it was something that you ate,” I tried to joke.

“Not funny. I mean it. I am getting cramps and my whole belly hurts,” she explained. “I almost feel like I am having a heart attack!”

“What you have is serious indigestion. I think there are a couple of things that we can do. First, are you able to get up and walk, or do you need my help?” I asked.

“I can walk, but my whole gut hurts,” she complained.

“Here, let me help you up,” I offered. I got her to her feet and I suggested that she stand up for a while to let the food settle a bit. We went into the living room and she leaned against the wall.

“I am exhausted,” she complained again. “I want to go to sleep.”

“If you want to get some sleep, let’s first invest in you being vertical while you drink some water. I know it sounds weird, but all that sugar has probably dehydrated you,” I explained. I fixed her a glass of water and she drank it down. I fixed her another.

“I can actually feel the outline of my stomach. It is still full,” she continued to complain, probing around the left side of her belly with her fingers. “It’s been three hours since I last ate. Shouldn’t it have emptied out by now?” she questioned.

“You shouldn’t be shocked that you are bloated,” I suggested. “You must have eaten more than 12,000 calories today. My guess is that your digestion has slowed due to how much you ate. And a lot of it was fat. That shake alone probably had more than 3,000 calories and maybe more fat than you are supposed to eat over the course of three days. And then there were the Oreos, which added another 1,000 calories and another day’s load of fat. And you consumed that on top of multiple servings of fettuccini Alfredo, which is certainly full of fat. Talking about what you got into your belly makes me realize how heroic your effort really was. I don’t think your binge today would be second to any of those models on the web sites,” I complemented Colette.

“Stop talking about food and fat. It’s making me feel sick,” Colette complained. “What have I done?”

“I’m sorry if I overdid it and you are feeling so bad. I guess I got carried away,” I said, feeling guilty.

“You only did what I told you to do,” Colette admitted. “I’m the one who kept swallowing. How long is it going to be before I don’t feel like I could split wide open if I turned the wrong way?” she asked.

“I am afraid that it is going to be a while,” I guessed. “If this were a drug overdose, they would pump your stomach. Do you think you would feel better if you were to throw up?” I asked.

“No. That would make me feel like I failed. I wanted to do this and I think I achieved some impressive level. You called it heroic,” she said, sounding a bit better.

I gave Colette another glass of water and she peed again. I suggested that she take a bath and she agreed. I filled the tub for her and helped her in. Sitting in the water emphasize the chub of her body. It was clear that she filled the tub much more than she used to. But that made sense. She was probably 50% heavier than she had been less than a year earlier.

After the bath, we went into the living room and sat for a little while. Finally, she decided she was feeling a little better and wanted to try to go to sleep. We got back into bed and I insisted that she still sleep with the pillows propping her up. I rubbed her belly a bit and it felt like some of the tightness had subsided. Being very gentle, I massaged her stomach, which caused her to burp a couple of times. I don’t know how well Colette slept, but I drifted off. I felt her get out of bed a couple of times during the night to use the bathroom, but she was trying not to wake me.

As fun as all this had been, the experience reminded me that there can be real repercussions to moments of over enjoyment. I was glad that Colette was not starting her classes for another day, but I still had to get up the next morning and go to work.