Saturday, April 16, 2011

Home!

Thank God I'm home! Seriously thank God because the doctors told me after the surgery I went through I was supposed to be in hospital for another couple of weeks but through the grace of God I'm OUT!!!! Had my first sleep at home and it felt good. I forgot how comfy my bed is. Oh and Flufferson likes it too.
My lamb that Eddie got me
Anyway, sorry if the last post freaked people out. I will be back updating about March soon-ish. Ish.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The sick saga

Being sick sucks. (warning gruesome photo ahead)

I started out last week with what I thought was period cramps. The next day I started yelling and screaming in excruciating pain. Meghan thought it was the contraceptive cramps and reminded me of how bad hers were. It made sense. So I told myself to suck it up and take it. But it seriously felt like dengue but concentrated in my abdomen. It was like stabbing and wrenching altogether in my body. Oh and also that my body decided to reject all my organs. That was fun.

The next day (30/03/2011) wasn’t much better…. I stayed in bed and  realized that I may in fact have appendicitis. So, I texted the trusty flatmate and she said “Hospital?” And thank the Lord we went because it turned out that my appendix actually burst. And there was pus around it and other organs. Good times. That was one of the most excruciating cab rides of my life AND I walked to it. I’m not one to brag but I was a soldier that day. They pretty much admitted me right away and put me in the plaster room at the time because there was no space but then they ended up putting me in an actual room. Doctor after doctor after nurse after nurse kept coming in and telling me “soon… soon… soon” and also the timeline. I was getting a bed first and THEN going into surgery… but thank GOD again that a theatre opened up and I was wheeled straight to surgery.

In the anesthetist’s room I was sooooo discombobulated. So many things were going on and I didn’t know where to place my concentration. It didn’t help that I couldn’t see so that was out. Eventually they got everything together and then they had me hold the mask on my face and the next thing I remember is being in recovery! No, “okay countdown” or “we’re going to start now…” just BAM! Gone.

Then I was wheeled up to a room of 6 people and I was the youngest by at least 20 years. Well, four out of us are 69 and above. One woman was around early 40s I’d say. But in any case, there was this one woman, who was excruciatingly annoying. Like she was all in everyone’s business all the time. Such a gossip. It was almost like God’s way of saying, “See? This is what happens when you’re a gossip.” Oh and I ended up looking like this:

Hospital fashion

The next day I felt pretty okay but then the horror began. It felt again as if my (now non existent) appendix blew. Every time I moved it was painful. I had been vomiting like crazy and so I had an NG tube put in… That was so not fun! They started sucking everything I had in my stomach out because nothing was going the other way. Good times. It took a few days but I got an x-ray and then a CT and it was confirmed that I had an obstruction. I had an open surgery and this time I made sure to take more notice of when I was going to sleep. In the anesthetic room, the doors broke so for a while it looked like we wouldn’t be able to get out. It was pretty funny actually. They had me hold the mask again and I tried to really take notice of what was going on but it was not happening. OUT super fast again. Haha.

(At the end of this paragraph is the promised gruesome photo... I just know some people like this stuff that's all... Haha) Since the surgery, I’ve been in a lot of pain again but honestly more than anything, it’s been more like I just want to get out of here. I was on a self-administering morphine drip but it kept making me sick. So then they put me on Demerol but that made me dizzy. So then I was on basically nothing much for a day and that was like the most excruciating day of my life. I was in so much pain. It felt like I was dying all over again. But I think that was an important turning point. Since then, I’ve been on oxynorm and oxycontin but I try to not use it very much because of the constipation factor. But I definitely feel SO much better! Even though I look like this: 


Friday, April 1, 2011

March comes in like a lion, goes out like a lion?

To try to fit a month in one blog post is seemingly ridiculous and impossible but I'm going to do it. And I will try to do it as concisely as possible.

The beginning of the month started of absolutely swell. It was the second to last week of class AND the week of gigs. The first of the month started off with one of my favourite bands, Yellowcard. They are back and with a FORCE. Their new songs are not only reminiscent of their old stuff but shows a maturity as well. I may have been the oldest there, save the parents of the children, by like 10 years but it was still a great show. Then the fifth, the flatmate and I cashed in on my Christmas/birthday gift to her... Ray LaMontagne! Although we were the only non-couple there, it was a great time. He is absolutely phenomenal live and we were both in tears at one point or another.

Then it was the last week of lectures for our programme, which went really well. It was nutrition and global health and while I knew a lot of the stuff they were talking about, it was cool to see/hear a lot of the articles that I've read materialised. But enough about the boring stuff...

Now March... and Ireland... what could possibly go on in March, in Ireland? Oh that's right ST. PATRICK'S DAY! Celebrating this day in Ireland was on my bucket list and I am so happy that I got to strike it off! My friend Esther and I went to watch the parade and froze our heinies off but it was a very interesting parade.
The theme of the parade was based on a short story called, "Brilliant!"  Hence, the weird craziness of a parade.

See? Super weird parade things


Pinkified version of the Fluffy from Harry Potter
Then the flatmate and I went and started the evening off around 5pm with a pint of Guinness! I told myself that I'd last until 10pm and I did! Just barely. Our friends were having a little too much fun with me being a lightweight so much so that I called it quits right around 10:02pm.

Ah but the day after St. Paddy's was a glorious one indeed! We started off with brunch at a fantastic little place called Elephant & Castle and then we went to St. Stephen's Green (not a pub here like in Mountain View, a beautiful city park) armed with Club Orange (poor man's version of Orangina) and champagne. The flatmate and a new friend insisted on the champagne mostly because they said that if they didn't start drinking again, they'd have the worst hangovers. I believed them and wasn't going to let a thing like a hangover ruin that beautiful day.
St. Stephen's Green

Cheers!

Yes we robbed that Care Bear from a chipper...
After a weekend of recuperation, it was time to start the assignments. And I tried, I really did. I got my ethics in and everything. I was getting geared up for my Kenya trip and was getting more and more stoked for it. God had a different plan. On the 29th of March, I started having severe abdomnial pains which I attributed to lady cramps. The next day did not get much better... and if you want to know the rest of the story read the "The Sick Saga" post.

Fin. (of March)