Oh The Torture!

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It never fails!

After I get over one ailment, another one is waiting in the wings. The pain in my abdomen is completely gone now, and I am fine with that.

Blissfully fine!

Now I have a new one!

It started with a sore throat, mid afternoon last Saturday (which happened to be my first Saturday off since June).

Then by Saturday evening I got the sniffles and some serious congestion. I couldn't breathe, so I couldn't sleep. I can never sleep when my breathing is impaired. I have to struggle just to get enough air, so it takes its toll on me, and it interrupts my sleeping process.

So I stayed up all night and I headed for work at 6am on Sunday. I got through that shift and came home. By then the next symptom revealed itself.

A fever!

Sounds like the Flu to me!

I didn't get any sleep on Sunday either, so I got up and Watched Andromeda on DVD for a couple of hours. Then I kept going up and downstairs. I was hoping that if I came downstairs, some of the pressure from the congestion would ease up. Finally at about 8am Monday, I came downstairs and lied on the couch.

Good News-I got some sleep!

Bad News-It was about an hour of sleep!

I think the only reason I got that hour of sleep, was because my mother and my youngest sister were both downstairs waiting for my sister's bus to come. This may sound strange, but having felt there presence was soothing to me, and it helped me go to sleep. The reason why I think this theory has credibility is because, when they both left, I woke up. Subconsciously, I sensed that no one was there, and I woke up.

I laid on the couch for a couple more hours until I couldn't anymore and got up and ate.

Sometimes I wonder if I am more a slave, instead of a employee. Maybe that is partly my fault though. Eventually I walked to work, with barely no energy. The only thing I was running on was fumes and determination. When I got to work, I went to the break room and and sat down. Actually it was more like collapsing, but either way...

The good part about going to work was that a customer told me about something called Nostrilla that eases congestion. I new we didn't have that at my job, but I figured that maybe there was something similar.

Eureka!

I discovered Zicam! I put that stuff in my nose, and the congestion was gone. I still had the stuffy nose, but that unbearable pressure was gone.

Thank goodness!

Good News-I got some sleep!

Bad News-I woke up and the congestion returned!

I got about a couple of hours of sleep last night, and when I woke up I realized that the congestion was back. I wanted to take the Zicam again, but there is a 10-12 hour waiting period in between (torture). Eventually I went and laid in my bed, and I got a couple more hours of sleep. Four hours of sleep is a heck of a lot better than one. It was a blessing compaired to that.

So I got up and went downstairs to see that I totally lost in all three of the fantasy football leagues that I am playing in (Sucks). At least I did better in the pick'em and the NFL Home Team Challenge this week.

I still feel like crap. On top of the sore throat, congestion/runny nose, and fever I have some other symptoms.

Symptoms I have had before:

• Sneezing (which I am about to do as I am typing this)
• Liquids tasting funny when drank them
  
• affected vision
• itchy ear and throat
• Plugged up ears (causing impairment to my hearing)
• Yellow Mucus (snot factory is in the house!)
  

New one to me:

• Body aches when I cough or sneeze
• Sore throat moved further down (near Adam's Apple)

I never...Ever felt pain like I'm feeling whenever I sneeze. every muscle in my upper body aches when I sneeze. It feels like they are on fire. My mother just told me that I should call in, but I feel like there isn't anyone who would want to cover me.

I guess I will be making others sick again today. I'm sorry about that, but there is nothing I can do. Sometimes I wish that there was a law preventing us from going to work ill!

Even so at least everyone on the East Coast is finally safe from the threat of a Massive Snow Storm! LOL

Don't get your teeth knocked out by that football

I was at work Sunday and I was thinking about something. Every Sunday, I come home and sit and watch football, and I watch my Bills play or another good game on TV. I hear people say how we don't know the names of all 50 States in the U.S. I bet if you sat for a moment and thought it, you would never figure out the names of all 32 NFL teams. There I was at work, trying to figure this out, and luckily for me I don't have any hair to rip out, because I would have ripped it out. It might sound easy, but it isn't. Unless you have an NFL package with a cable, or a dish company, you wouldn't be able to see every game, and every team play. I finally got the chance to see the Texans play, and that was because they were playing my Bills.

Using the Honor System!

Here is a challenge for you (if you love football anyways). Sit down and see if you can figure out the names of all 32 teams. No Cheating! See how many of them you get.

Only in our Lost and Found!

Okay a typical lost and found would include keys, prescriptions, gloves, glasses, wallets, cards/ID's, umbrellas, and canes (we have a pimp cane).....right? First off, I just don't see how someone can lose there Credit Card or there license. That should be stuck to there hip! Then again so should a Walker. I thought it was weird before, when we had a woman lose her keys down the toilet! Now it seems normal compared to what we got on the 15th.



Don't worry, we've got the Tooth Fairy on this one. After all she is the world's best tooth expert, is she not?

How does one lose there dentures? I won't go any further with this, because someday, I may be one of those people who are gumming. You should have saw the look on my co-worker's face when the cart person brought them in.

For Mom!

I'm so glad that I couldn't take part in that insanity that was purchasing a PlayStation 3!

I wanted, I wanted one badly. I'm not an aggressive person, but I would have been to get a PS3. I like video games, but I am not going to wait outside for 3 days, at a store, when there is as many as 10 systems per store. Sony should have waited until they had made about 5 million of those things. With that said, I think it was a sign for me to make a change.

Last year I made a promise, and I wanted to keep it. Then I found out that Sony was releasing the PS3. Then my selfish side began to rear it's ugly head. I had enough money to get both, but then that would mean I wouldn't be able to get a car next year (whole other story).

In any case, I realized that my selfishness was hurting me. It wasn't making me a good person. Our family is struggling to stay afloat financially and I am spending money on myself. I'm not rich, but I do help out.



We have been in this house for over ten years now. We had the same stove for that long, and it was on it's "last breath of gas". One of the burners caved in, and just about all of the switches melted off of it. Then there were the eyes on the stove that were still working (if you wanted to call it that). Some of the holes were clogged on the eyes. There wasn't any fire coming out of them. My mom wanted to buy a stove, but she didn't have the money. I wanted a PlayStation 3, but there wasn't that many. So what did I do? Well there are plenty of stoves out there, so I decided to make mom happy. I decided to buy her a new stove.



When I was a kid, I wasn't the best. I did some mean things, and I got some spankings and some stern talk from my mom. We both waited so long for each of us to do something.

She waited for me to do something unselfish, and I waited so long for her to say these words.

"You've come a long way from where you were"!

That meant so much to me. You just don't know! I know I keep my feelings to myself, but I hope she knows how much she means to me.

I love you MOM!

I'm Fine

At least that is what the tests are saying. Everything came back negative (say one problem), and I am happy about that, but I still have that pain off and on. I think I may have figured out what the cause of the pain is though. It's not as bad as it was before though. I think it is some how related to gas (no joke), my intestines, and with all of the junk food and fast food that I have been eating. I am going to have to cut it out of my diet.

That one problem I have is High Cholesterol, and I think that may play a factor in the pain as well. All of those greasy foods; high in fat, and cholesterol is wearing my body out. My doctor told me to go online and look for websites that relate to cholesterol lowering foods. Part of me is dreading this, because I know I will be in a junk food/fast food withdrawal state eventually. If I quit drinking soda, than I can quit the unhealthy foods too. Thanksgiving, I will have some of my moms banana pudding though.

Before I came home I went and bought Evanescence's new CD. I didn't know that it was released in October, because I was in hibernation mode because of the pain. So I missed just about everything I enjoy. I taped Lost and watched some of it, but I really can't say that I enjoyed it. Heck, I haven't even watched the Fall season finale yet. Basically I put my life on hold and kept everything and everyone at a distance, because I was in pain. I kind of used that as an excused to push some people away though.

When I came home yesterday, I had every intention of logging online, and posting an entry telling everyone that I was fine.

Reason #125 why things never go the way you plan:

I came home, and I laid down to absorb what I was told. "Nothing wrong GOOD; But how will I fight the temptation of buying the bad foods", played over and over again within the confines of my mind.

While I lie in my bed though, my plans to come online were being thwarted by an unknown entity. I think I have said this before. when I lie down, sometimes I sleep with my fan on. I had my fan on yesterday, and while I was in the midst of thinking, my fan had shut off. I got up and I decided to look out of the window, and I noticed that it was the electric company shutting us off. My Step-Father forgot to pay the bill. So there wasn't no post yesterday, and no Open Door on my MP3 to listen to as I walk to work. We didn't have our power on at all last night. In fact we just got it turned back on. So I am about to go and get my MP3 and upload the songs to it. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am fine. Thank you for caring, it really meant a lot to me just to know that somewhere someone thought of me. The world felt a little less lonely.

Later

Why Don't We Have Tricorders?

My doctor's appointment was...Well...

I was a nervous wreck. I didn't get much sleep the night before my appointment. My mother drove me at 7 in the morning, to where the office was so I would know how to get there. Then she dropped me back off at home. As I went in the house, I decided to check my phone to see if anyone had called me. Why did I do this; I have no idea. I saw that my job had called me to see if I could work, because two of my co-workers both came down with a stomach bug. I guess they were puking up a storm. They had no one else, because the others were working on the front end. So I guess an abdomen hurting Charles is the next best thing.

I said yes --->Why did I do this; I have No Idea<---

I caught the city bus to Strong Memorial Hospital, so I could get off there and walk down to Borg Imaging. There is more than one, but this one was more convienient, because I know where the closest and most familar building (Strong) is.

I got there over an hour early, and they actually took me early too. I went to the wating room nearby the room where I was going to be scanned. They gave me two cups of this liquid that looked like Tang, and told me to drink it all. It may have looked like Tang, but it didn't taste like it. It had a funny cardboard like after-taste. After I finished drinking it, I chatted with an elderly couple about the procedure, because one of them had it done before, and she was there to get it done again. She got a red drink by the way and she said it tasted better (no fair...LOL). She tried to tell me that everything would be fine. In fact she told the nurse that was helping me that I was very nervous, and that she was worried about me.

When my time came, the nurse explained to me what the CT Scan was like. She said I would be placed on a table, and then I would be raised and then have my body put through a donut shaped machine. Funny thing is she said it would sound like a Dryer when they activated it, but to me it sounded more like one of those washer extractors at the laundrymat, during it's spin cycle. Then she went over some of procedures with me, and the possible side-effects of the IV Contrast.

Dehydration(CHECK), vomitting, (I didn't here nothing about feeling woozy) a feeling that one is urinating when they aren't, and a very very very pleasant warming sensation throughout ones body(CHECK). It was very pleasant. My crotch felt very comfy. (LMAO) The warming sensation was the fun part, but in order for me to get that pleasant feeling my arms came under fire again by the relentless forces of the Needle Republic. The nurse couldn't get it in on her first attempt, so she moved her attempt a little further down.

Honestly I panicked, because I don't like the feeling of when they put needles into my arm. They had to get me to relax, so she could get the needle into my vein. It hurts and it stiffens my arm afterwards. At one point when I was at work last night, it felt as if the needle was still inside my arm.

When we were done, they told me that my doctor will get the results in two days. If it had been something dire, i'm sure I would have been told sooner. My next appointment is on the 14th.

Crossing My Fingers!

In case you are wondering

Hi Everyone Hi Doctor Nick (You'd get it if you watched The Simpsons.)

In any case Hi Everyone. I'm sorry that I haven't been posting. I haven't been up to specs lately. For the last couple of months, I have been in some pain. Whether it has been discomfort, or full blown-I want to rip you to shreds and everyone else kind of pain. Not to mention some tenderness. Actually I've felt this pain long before the two months. I thought it would go away (and it did for awhile), but now its back and it's a worse. I think its from a combination of stress and neglect (I should have had this looked at in the beginning). Sunday when I spat up a little blood, that is when I decided to call for an appointment. The pain is located on the right side of my belly, in my abdominal area.

I went and saw a doctor yesterday. She told me that she doesn't think it's anything serious, but like I told her I am not good at describing how I feel. My doctor told me to drink Metamucil. Then she had me go and take a urine test, and for fun and torture some bloodwork. I swear, whenever I go there I get blood drawn, they can never get any from my right arm. Even with the wiggle and jiggle. So the left arm got some torture as well. Guess what one of my arms is going to be tortured even more, because tomorrow, I am going to have a CT Scan on my abdomen and my pelvis. There going to put an IV in my arm(first time for everything), and they said that it may burn a little at first. Needles and burning (poor arm). I also found out that I have to drink some funky liquid, that taste somewhat good (at least that is what the woman on the phone told me today). Then I have to wait an hour before it is absorbed throughout my body. Also I have to lie on a table for about 30 minutes while they perform the scan. Did I mention that I hate going to the Doctor?

Honestly I am a little nervous. I don't know what to expect, and I don't have anyone coming with me tomorrow. I do have someone thinking about me and lighting a candle for me though. That makes me feel better. Let me just say, that this isn't how I wanted to start my November, and my end to October....That wasn't good either.

Time to go have to get my Metamucil on! Wish me luck!

P.S. I haven't forgot about pimping you in the pimp joint Chris. I was going to do it tonight, but blogger won't let me upload any photos