Another helping of Salmonella anyone?

MMMMmmmmm.....mmmmm...good?  I think not.  I just spent an entire day in doctor's offices and hospitals with my precious child just because of eating out.  My question is, is it really worth it?  Is it worth putting our bodies at risk so we won't have to cook a meal?  Our recent experience makes me want to boycott every "all-you-can-eat" buffets and probably most restaurants in general. 

Cameron started feeling lousy Monday evening, Tuesday he started running a fever and had stomach pain, he threw up in the middle of the night a couple times but nothing too strange, that's the only time he vomited during this whole ordeal.  Wednesday morning his fever was 103 degrees, we got the fever down that day but that evening he started noticing blood in his stools and around 2:30 am his stomach was cramping and he was in a lot of pain.  Thursday A.M., I took him to the doctor, they thought at first maybe an appendicitis so they drew blood, had him give a urine sample and took some x-rays.  The x-rays didn't really show anything, his white blood count was low so they figured negative on the appendicitis but there was blood in his urine.  They decided he needed more tests and sent him to a hospital close by for a CT scan on his abdomen and pelvis.  This test showed he had an inflammed colon.  The doctor said he needed a biopsy and we could either have it there or he could have the procedure at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.  We opted for Children's Mercy.  We were sent on our way with a disc to give the hospital when we arrived of the CT scan.  They put Cameron in a room and reviewed the disc, looked at all the prior work done and got a stool sample.  Cameron was a little nervous about this biopsy thing and just wanted to go home.  At this point we had been given no other options and the diagnosis was IBD - inflammatory bowel disease, which could be Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's Disease.

A couple hours later a gentlemanly old doctor came in (the attending doc) and said that the radiologist at the other hospital "over read" the CT scan and that what Cameron had was infectious colitis (sounds so much better).  He asked us when the symptoms started occuring and then what we did last weekend.  He asked if we had went out to eat anywhere.  Only one place...Sunday after church....an all-you-can-eat buffet.  He said that was probably where Cameron had contracted this gruesome bacteria.  The doc stated that the food may not have been kept at the right temperatures or been there too long, etc. etc...ew.  The hospital lab had begun a culture on Cameron's stool sample to see which organism had caused this mess.  The culture will not be complete until Sunday or Monday so they can't do anything for my poor boy until then.  Some bacterias are treated with antibiotics while others are not and if he were to take an antibiotic for the wrong kind, it could worsen and even prolong the illness up to months.  So now we sit and wait, Cameron cannot have any dairy products, raw fruits or vegetables, and of course, nothing spicy...also no chocolate, nuts, or caffiene.  You would have had to shoot me right there...no coffee?  Good thing he's not addicted yet.  We got him home late last night, he woke up in the wee hours of the morning in a lot of pain but is doing better now.

I watched as my little boy (okay, 14, but still my baby) endured awful - literally gut wrenching- pain all because of eating out.  Will this deter us from eating out again?  Maybe for a while but in reality the effects of this event will fade and we will once again risk our health for possibly tainted food.  Maybe I need to carry this picture around with me and post one on the fridge...