"I always recommend caution when following the advice of the profoundly stupid."
Another month passes with no postings. I'm almost 100% certain that there is a black hole that has appeared somewhere in the Sol System that is stealing time from me. Or at least causing it to race by at a horrifying rate.
I'm almost fairly certain I caught the damn Plague of the Month about three weeks ago; it gave me mild cold-like symptoms, fever here and there and the occasional chills. Then it mysteriously vanished, only to strike back with a vengeance last week. A visit to the doctor last Monday got me some prednisone to open my lungs, which had decided to start swelling shut again. After thinking this was cleared up, whatever it is got worse on Thursday, so Friday I ended up at Healthpartners with some goofy doctor who I'm never going to see again. She gave me Azithromycin, and I also wound up with a horrible head cold on top of this. Sunday I still hadn't improved, so it was off to the ER, where some shit head doctor gave me Azmacort, which as it turns out didn't help at all, and it's a maintenance drug for asthma so I shouldn't have had it anyways. The next day I decided I needed to go back, seeing as how within half an hour of using a nebulizer treatment my lungs would simply swell shut again and refuse to let me breathe. That, and I couldn't sleep more than an hour at a time.
Monday was a goddamn adventure in itself. Mom took me to the Healthpartners Urgent Care, where we were told it was a 2 hour wait. We got in at 8:30, by 10:00 no one had even been called back to a room. After a heated exchange with some dumbass nurse who had been wandering around doing nothing, we went to the ER. I was let in to a room to get some treatment within half an hour. The doctor there did nothing to reassure me about the state of our health care system, as she told me I can use my nebulizer as much as I need. I had been told that this is damaging to my heart (my blood pressure skyrockets and my heart rate goes out of control when I use the Albuterol solution), but she told me that "The receptors on your heart will be saturated, so your heart rate will plateau, so it's fine. But since you've been back here several times, we're going to admit you to the hospital." I didn't get into a room until about 2:30 am, and they pretty much dumped me in there; didn't even hook up my IV or take any vitals until about 5:00 or so. The doctor I saw later that day was a jackass, he said that "They couldn't justify admitting me" because my Oxygen Saturation was "fine" (It had been fluctuating from 92-97 for the past couple of days; 99-100 is normal, anything below 90 and you're going to go comatose) and the many chest X-rays didn't show pneumonia. In lieu of chewing him out, because I know when something's goddamn wrong with me and it takes a team of wild horses to drag me in to the doctor usually, I agreed to IV steroids for the next 24 hours. Tuesday I spent most of the day shuffling around the room and watching TV. I couldn't sleep. I also very nearly lost it on the front desk people; my medication was supposed to have arrived by 4:00, and I hadn't seen my nurse still by about 7:30. Turns out they hadn't even paged her and they had the nerve to act like I was bothering them. And then Tuesday night, someone was barging into my room every hour to take vitals or offer me things. Everything except sleep; I finally had the nurse give me something to sleep, though it didn't do a damn bit of good.
Even though I didn't feel 100%, I got out Wednesday night. If I had stayed there another day, I would've ended up in the psych ward. I don't do long term confinement well, and those beds and that environment were not conductive to sleeping. I don't think it really did me any good either, they insisted that I didn't have pneumonia. Though for the past two days I've been doing something the Respiratory Tech guy suggested and that's "force" stuff out of my lungs during nebulizer treatments. I coughed up something that you could use to tack up a poster, along with plenty of bloody gunk that shouldn't be there. No pneumonia, my ass. Fuckin' doctors don't have a goddamn clue in this country. I'm still debating whether or not to go to work tomorrow; I feel better, but there's still the hint of something left in my airways. I've missed almost every day of class in the past two weeks, and all but two days of work. This has been a drain on my financial situation, as well as potentially paying my Tuition in December. I'm thinking of taking a semester off, particularly if I can't get my application materials in on time. But I'm tired of putting things off. I need to get started. That, and I'm tired of being held back by something this trivial. I refuse to be debilitated by some fucking infection that I probably got from some piece of shit coming through my lane at Target... I have too many customers who are nothing but sacs of tuberculotic sputum mixed with pig shit. "Yes, I'm sick, but I'll go shopping and go to work and school anyways because I have no social graces, and I feel like spreading my disease to everyone I come in contact with. I am the human equivalent of an oozing rectal wart."
If'n ye canne tell, I am not happy about this whole thing. It probably could have been prevented if the doctors didn't have their heads up their asses, and if people weren't so damn nasty in general. Also, my immune system is obviously not up to par. I must remedy this.
I must also return to the doctor's point about using my nebulizer as often as I needed: I don't need to ABSOLUTELY 100% ON PAIN OF DEATH need to use it every half an hour unless something is viciously wrong. The last time this happened I nearly died. As for "My heart rate will plateau", yeah I know precisely what she was talking about, and I know she was full of shit. Albuterol, the ingredient in asthma medications, acts like adrenaline (or Epinephrine) does in allergy patients; it binds to specific receptors in the airways to force them to open up. Epinephrine opens blood vessels and airways, which is why many people with severe allergies carry Epipens; they need to open those airways when some peanuts or some shit make their throats swell shut. This swelling happens because our immune systems are retarded and are convinced that our allergens are Al Queda Agents who must be snuffed out, preferably by snuffing out the host (aka, you). Anyways! Albuterol is normally specific to receptors in the airways, so it doesn't have the heart-racing, irritable, blood-pressure spiking effect that Epinephrine does (the fight-or-flight response), until you start talking about the nebulizer. A normal albuterol dose may not work, so the nebulizer acts as a flood of the stuff; a larger dose, and it can cause the heart-racing, blood-pressure spiking action, as it will start to bind to heart and blood vessel receptors. And while it is true that these receptors will saturate after a while so your heart won't just race faster and faster and faster until it leaps out of your body and teleports to another dimension... there's a reason they limit the dose to every few hours. If those receptors are saturated CONTINUALLY, your heart rate is going to be at that high plateau, and your blood pressure will be at that elevated level, for a much longer rate, which certainly can be damaging. Your heart is still working harder for much longer, and it certainly could lead to damage. Check and mate. Doom, 1; Minnesota's MDs, 0! Eat it, Richards!
Aside from this, bugger all has happened. I'm trying to swap my shift next Saturday so I can take Reid and Paige trick-or-treating, but if I can't, I can't. Fuck.
Last night was the first night in over a week that I truly slept. And it felt fantastic. Let's see if we can't go for two in a row.
I'm almost fairly certain I caught the damn Plague of the Month about three weeks ago; it gave me mild cold-like symptoms, fever here and there and the occasional chills. Then it mysteriously vanished, only to strike back with a vengeance last week. A visit to the doctor last Monday got me some prednisone to open my lungs, which had decided to start swelling shut again. After thinking this was cleared up, whatever it is got worse on Thursday, so Friday I ended up at Healthpartners with some goofy doctor who I'm never going to see again. She gave me Azithromycin, and I also wound up with a horrible head cold on top of this. Sunday I still hadn't improved, so it was off to the ER, where some shit head doctor gave me Azmacort, which as it turns out didn't help at all, and it's a maintenance drug for asthma so I shouldn't have had it anyways. The next day I decided I needed to go back, seeing as how within half an hour of using a nebulizer treatment my lungs would simply swell shut again and refuse to let me breathe. That, and I couldn't sleep more than an hour at a time.
Monday was a goddamn adventure in itself. Mom took me to the Healthpartners Urgent Care, where we were told it was a 2 hour wait. We got in at 8:30, by 10:00 no one had even been called back to a room. After a heated exchange with some dumbass nurse who had been wandering around doing nothing, we went to the ER. I was let in to a room to get some treatment within half an hour. The doctor there did nothing to reassure me about the state of our health care system, as she told me I can use my nebulizer as much as I need. I had been told that this is damaging to my heart (my blood pressure skyrockets and my heart rate goes out of control when I use the Albuterol solution), but she told me that "The receptors on your heart will be saturated, so your heart rate will plateau, so it's fine. But since you've been back here several times, we're going to admit you to the hospital." I didn't get into a room until about 2:30 am, and they pretty much dumped me in there; didn't even hook up my IV or take any vitals until about 5:00 or so. The doctor I saw later that day was a jackass, he said that "They couldn't justify admitting me" because my Oxygen Saturation was "fine" (It had been fluctuating from 92-97 for the past couple of days; 99-100 is normal, anything below 90 and you're going to go comatose) and the many chest X-rays didn't show pneumonia. In lieu of chewing him out, because I know when something's goddamn wrong with me and it takes a team of wild horses to drag me in to the doctor usually, I agreed to IV steroids for the next 24 hours. Tuesday I spent most of the day shuffling around the room and watching TV. I couldn't sleep. I also very nearly lost it on the front desk people; my medication was supposed to have arrived by 4:00, and I hadn't seen my nurse still by about 7:30. Turns out they hadn't even paged her and they had the nerve to act like I was bothering them. And then Tuesday night, someone was barging into my room every hour to take vitals or offer me things. Everything except sleep; I finally had the nurse give me something to sleep, though it didn't do a damn bit of good.
Even though I didn't feel 100%, I got out Wednesday night. If I had stayed there another day, I would've ended up in the psych ward. I don't do long term confinement well, and those beds and that environment were not conductive to sleeping. I don't think it really did me any good either, they insisted that I didn't have pneumonia. Though for the past two days I've been doing something the Respiratory Tech guy suggested and that's "force" stuff out of my lungs during nebulizer treatments. I coughed up something that you could use to tack up a poster, along with plenty of bloody gunk that shouldn't be there. No pneumonia, my ass. Fuckin' doctors don't have a goddamn clue in this country. I'm still debating whether or not to go to work tomorrow; I feel better, but there's still the hint of something left in my airways. I've missed almost every day of class in the past two weeks, and all but two days of work. This has been a drain on my financial situation, as well as potentially paying my Tuition in December. I'm thinking of taking a semester off, particularly if I can't get my application materials in on time. But I'm tired of putting things off. I need to get started. That, and I'm tired of being held back by something this trivial. I refuse to be debilitated by some fucking infection that I probably got from some piece of shit coming through my lane at Target... I have too many customers who are nothing but sacs of tuberculotic sputum mixed with pig shit. "Yes, I'm sick, but I'll go shopping and go to work and school anyways because I have no social graces, and I feel like spreading my disease to everyone I come in contact with. I am the human equivalent of an oozing rectal wart."
If'n ye canne tell, I am not happy about this whole thing. It probably could have been prevented if the doctors didn't have their heads up their asses, and if people weren't so damn nasty in general. Also, my immune system is obviously not up to par. I must remedy this.
I must also return to the doctor's point about using my nebulizer as often as I needed: I don't need to ABSOLUTELY 100% ON PAIN OF DEATH need to use it every half an hour unless something is viciously wrong. The last time this happened I nearly died. As for "My heart rate will plateau", yeah I know precisely what she was talking about, and I know she was full of shit. Albuterol, the ingredient in asthma medications, acts like adrenaline (or Epinephrine) does in allergy patients; it binds to specific receptors in the airways to force them to open up. Epinephrine opens blood vessels and airways, which is why many people with severe allergies carry Epipens; they need to open those airways when some peanuts or some shit make their throats swell shut. This swelling happens because our immune systems are retarded and are convinced that our allergens are Al Queda Agents who must be snuffed out, preferably by snuffing out the host (aka, you). Anyways! Albuterol is normally specific to receptors in the airways, so it doesn't have the heart-racing, irritable, blood-pressure spiking effect that Epinephrine does (the fight-or-flight response), until you start talking about the nebulizer. A normal albuterol dose may not work, so the nebulizer acts as a flood of the stuff; a larger dose, and it can cause the heart-racing, blood-pressure spiking action, as it will start to bind to heart and blood vessel receptors. And while it is true that these receptors will saturate after a while so your heart won't just race faster and faster and faster until it leaps out of your body and teleports to another dimension... there's a reason they limit the dose to every few hours. If those receptors are saturated CONTINUALLY, your heart rate is going to be at that high plateau, and your blood pressure will be at that elevated level, for a much longer rate, which certainly can be damaging. Your heart is still working harder for much longer, and it certainly could lead to damage. Check and mate. Doom, 1; Minnesota's MDs, 0! Eat it, Richards!
Aside from this, bugger all has happened. I'm trying to swap my shift next Saturday so I can take Reid and Paige trick-or-treating, but if I can't, I can't. Fuck.
Last night was the first night in over a week that I truly slept. And it felt fantastic. Let's see if we can't go for two in a row.