1.03.2004

So.......the past few days.........

I went ahead and spent my gift cards and returned LOTR Risk for some Christmas money, so I ended up getting

Back to the Future 3-Disc set
2 Queen CDs (Queen II and Innuendo)
new Star Wars Guide to Vehicles/Vessels
LOTR Guide to Weapons and Warfare
Dilbert comic book (Dilbert Gives You The Business)
Episode II paperback
Impossible Military Victories
Newton's Cannon (Gregory Keyes)

I've been sick since last Saturday, finally getting better today (sick on break? somebody owes me for this one.........)

Happy New Year, I guess. Stayed up to watch the ball drop for 2004. For me, New Years doesn't really register as a holiday. It's just an arbitrary point humans pick to celebrate according to our calendar system as the "start" of a new year........although it's really just 356 days away from the same point in Earth's orbit, just like any other day. HOWEVER, I'll let this "holiday" slide because it's a double pay day at work (19 hours an hour- w00t!) and I also recieved my second raise since I started (it was $8.32, 4% raise, now it's 8.65 an hour)

Sis is still in France with Mark..........I'm actually starting to miss them (While at college? Not really. In a foreign country? I guess I'm a little worried.........Mark doesn't speak a word of French, and sis is........well, I have faith in her French skills but not her travel skills, lol. Oh well, I'm sure the two'll look out for each other)

My Grandma is moving (first new house in about 40 years) after Grandpa died 2 years ago, so that's a big deal.

Mom is sick again.

Mostly, however, my post-Christmas break pre-go back to school week has been one word- tests.
I've been poked, prodded, had pictures taken, blood drawn, and basically been at the beck and call of the Children's Medical staff. Sure, it's for my own good, my health, whatnot, but I'm sick of playing medical bitch. Here's a rundown.

PFT (Pulminary Function Test, or "breathe more air in and out of a tube in 30 minutes than you've in the past year")-
I never new this many ways to test lungs existed. I did, however, impress the test guy because I remembered what "Boyle's Law" was and how it was used (he said nobody had ever been able to tell him that- I guess AP Chem counted for something afterall, but he looked suprised when I told him I was from Amelia...........he was like, "I've heard some bad stuff about that school" and I was like "...yeah..."). Turns out though, I've got a bad ass set of lungs- I was off the charts for volume capacity, speed, strength, and tension.

Blood test (blood test, or "stick ANOTHER DAMN NEEDLE IN MY ARM, PLEASE")
They cut me and stuck another needle to take more blood (can't you guys call Hoxworth and borrow some?). The nurse told me I was easy to take blood from because I've got HULK veins, so that was funny. Turns out I take 5 minutes to clot, fyi.

Blood donation (aren't you Hoxworth guys sick of me yet?)
So I was sick a little. That means the unit I gave on Christmas Eve was worthless (grrrrr) and I could't donate on New Years Eve...........so now I have to go downtown to Hoxworth (vs. Anderson, like I've been doing) on Monday to give another fuggin' unit.

EKG (Encephalocardiogram, or "OW MY LEG HAIRS!!!")
Big black lady walks in the room. "Take off your shirt and lay on the table" was all she said. So I did. She proceeds to tape on really cold really stick pads (about a dozen) all over my chest and legs. Then she hooks up a bunch of cold wires to each one, and says "sit still." Two minutes of awkward silence envelops the room untill the machine makes a microwave-like beep and she says "that's it." All was cool untill she rips the pads off my legs and takes a clump of hair with it. Ow. Mom says the nurse has no sympathy because women get all sorts of hair removed from all sorts of places.

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging [I think] or "Sit still for 2 hours in The Oven")
We drove out to Mason for this one. I was in the wating room by 9 (not cool) and they started soon thereafter- I lay down on a very stiff, very small board and they slide me into this giant plastic dougnt. I guess they thought I'd be cold, so they put a hospital blanket on me...........but it ended up being a million degrees in there. I can't move or they have to re-start the test. I lay there an hour and I'm dripping with sweat, I've found more scratches and annoyances than I though was possible, and all I have to comfort me is the Queen music they pumped into the headphones that were digging into my ears and clamping down on my head. Add to that to the massive whump whumping and thrumb thrumbing that the machine was making that was so close to my head that I could barely hear my music, to which I was unable to tap or drum or air guitar to (c'mon, it's Queen!), and do that for 2 hours. NOT a fun test.

I still have ALL of my homework to do tonight and tomorrow, but that's the life I have chosen.

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