Hospital Stuffs

This post will remain at the top of my LJ until I get out of the hospital.

( And I'm now out, so I'm backdating and shifting it. )

Tew's Day

Administration
Hello to new readers ewtikins and yunatwilight!

Medical
The Lyrica made me dizzy yesterday. Interesting to see the effects of just Lyrica - the effects I was having when I was building up on it previously were mostly the Trileptal effects, being amplified by the Lyrica in some way.

Fibro-wise, I'm ouchy - a week in bed has not done wonders for a condition that requires exercise, and a week of sleep deprivation has not done wonders for a condition that requires sleep. So yes, I'll need to be resting a lot this week - but I also desperately need exercise, and I need to not push myself to pre-hospital levels of exercise right away. Start with shorter walks. Maybe haul out the yoga DVD.

Allergic reaction to the cardiac electrodes is *driving me crazy*. *whimper* Owie. Itchy red blistery swollen owie.

Today
Electrode removal around 10; electrode replacement for the ambulatory EEG at noon. Shower and hair-washing in between! *cheers* And the ambulatory will only last three to five days. So I'll look awfully silly at the doctor's office and Elayna's bus stop, but ah well.

Elayna
I must find a way to reward her. She's been wonderful throughout this. I told her last night that I was very, very proud of her for the way she's handling this. She's been behaving for Adam and her grandma, her school stuff hasn't suffered, and - it's difficult to have your mom in the hospital, and she has handled it with confidence and grace. She deserves something special.

Daily Science
Beautiful poster of the periodic table! I want this. We have a poster of the periodic table in our living room, but it's very plain.

Daily BPAL
No new imps to sample, sadly. :(

I need to do this. I love all of the scents except the hard candy one, but this one in particular was *made* for my body chemistry: A double-dose of seedy that oozes rough-and-tumble sexuality while promoting vice-driven profitability! Volcanic red musk, vanilla bean, Queen Elizabeth root, red ginger, skin musk, black leather, honeycomb, honeysuckle, magnolia, and patchouli.

Of all of those notes, magnolia and patchouli are the only ones that aren't *wondeful* on me. If those two are subtle? This thing will be ungodly delicious on me.

$50 to submit to the Trick or Treat Inquisition. (You get a shirt, too.) But after this week, I deserve it! Just wish I had the money. Must sell stuff, must take a picture of that suede suit... I have considerably more energy now that I'm off the Trileptal, so I might actually manage that in the near future.

EDIT
Adam says I need to tell you that I posted this last night, because not everyone reads at night. 10Q.

(no subject)

I'm home!!! :)

(no subject)

This was a morning of eXtreme confusion.

At about 9:30, my tech came in and said "Everything's going to go really fast now." Dude, he was not kidding. He set about scrubbing my head roughly with acetone (aaagh! the smell!), and kept up a rapid-fire list of instructions - where to go, what to do, who to ask for, what to tell them. They were trying to get me in for an MRI and the ambulatory EEG, which meant I had to be ready NOW and they had to super-rush me through everything.

He peeled off the last of the big chunks and told me to take a shower no to get all the gunk out, because if they could get me in for an MRI, it would be in about half an hour. I paged the nurse to take my IV port out. She didn't come. The tech went to tell her. She didn't come. Finally, another tech heard my plight and pretty much dragged the daft bitch to my room, where she proceeded to sulk about actually having to do her job. Pfft.

IV port out. Shower! I was just working the bigger chunks of glue out, pre-shampoo, just water, when my mom knocked on the door - the MRI people were there! Shit!

"I need like 0 more minutes to get this crap out of my hair!"

"Well, do your best."

I said fuckit to the shampooing, and just hopped out and got dressed. And waited for the MRI person to return from her wanderings. And went forth to get an MRI.

I was petrified of my first MRI. I mean, they lock your head in a cage. But this time I was actually pretty blase about it, largely because medical tests are old hat by now, partly because this was the last hurdle to getting the hell out of this hospital.

Finished the MRI, was wheeled back upstairs - where I encountered mass confusion about the ambulatory EEG. They had a device for me, they didn't have a device for me, I should go by 12 - no, I should go at 1 -

And I called a halt.

I have been very, very calm and patient through this whole thing. Very much so. If you don't believe me, ask Spooky and Adam.

But I reached The Point Of Too Much. And inside, I reverted to the child-self. "No. I'm going home."

Tech: But they could maybe do it at 12 or maybe 1 (but maybe not at all) and if I talk to this person -

"No. I'm going home. I'm going to go home and wash my hair and open my mail and, and - I am going home now. I will call for an appointment."

Mom and Dad: Are you sure you don't want to just walk over and do this?

I'm sure.

I need a break.

They accepted that. So I'm home. I washed my hair - it's still wrecked, but it'll take a while to recover. I put my clothes away. I snuggled the cats. I'm home.

In Appreciation

elionwyr - Spooky - is an amazing person.

She put her life on hold for nearly a full week to come here - to take care of me. To sleep in a recliner, when she slept at all - she participated in the sleep-dep. To keep an eye on me. To take notes on my care, because she knows how my memory is. To fetch coffee and my laptop. To nursemaid the hell out of me.

This is a huge thing to do. And she says it's just something she did because she loves me and wants to take care of me, and it's true that, were she in the hospital, I'd do the same, because I love her.

But that doesn't make it less huge.

Thank you, Spooky. I could not have gotten through this without you by my side. Love you. :)

House

Doesn't it drive you crazy when the answer to the big medical mystery is something that you totally know that House knows all about, but the writers for some reason think he wouldn't, even though he totally would, so you spend half the episode going "aaagh!" at the TV?

I mean, it was reallyreally easy. Like, only one possible answer once they had a certain piece of info. And. Yeah.

Fft.