My story is this:
It was the 1990s. I had about 15 pounds to lose. I’d just started my first desk job. The last two facts were related.
My doctor, a kindly gentleman, gave me the newest diet drug. Not an amphetamine, won’t affect your brain, really safe. It was called Xenical and was the Next Big Thing – a fat blocker! He told me to eat a diet low in fat and this would help block some of the fat I did ingest.
Great, I can do this.
A few weeks later, I went out with friends for some margaritas at the local Mexican watering hole. A couple of pitchers in, we decided that we needed some food to mop up all the tequila. So we ordered…everything, I think. I thought, hey, one time won’t throw off the diet too badly. And I partook.
Many more pitchers of margaritas and probably a few tequila-infused shooters later (the bartender was a neighbor of ours), we all staggered home, which was fortunately just down the street.
I woke up feeling fine, really far better than I had any right to. Nausea? Nope. Headache? Nope. Strangers in my bed? Nope.
Made myself a cup of coffee and had some toast. Read the paper.
At this point, I should mention my cat. Mojo was a huge, 19-pound former tomcat. He wasn’t fat, though; all muscle. He was strong – if he whapped you with his paw when we were playing, you really felt it. And contrary to his slightly sinister looks, he was a complete sweetheart.
So I’m reading the paper, and the cat is sleeping next to my chair.
Pressure builds.
I live by myself and my boyfriend isn’t around, and the cat licks his butthole. So no one was going to be offended…
I let it fly.
The Stench took a minute to fully form, but it was, as others have described, like a green cloud of toxic hell. A stinking miasma overtook the main room in the apartment.
With the sound, Mojo woke up and looked puzzled. With The Stench, he got a look on his furry face that seemed to say both, “What the HELL was that?” and “You are NOT blaming that on me!”
When The Stench took hold and ripened, the cat looked horrified and fled the room.
This horrible story was followed by one of my two horrible poo stories, but I won’t go there.
When I reported this (and the horrible poo incident) to my doctor, who thought it was hilarious, he said, oh yeah…fatty foods can do that on this drug. You should avoid Mexican food.
You’d think they’d put that on as a Black Box Warning, wouldn’t you?
By the way, Xenical is now available OTC as Alli. Don’t say you weren’t warned.