Things I Learned in the Hospital

So this weekend has been the craziest I’ve had in awhile, namely because I fell ill and had to be admitted to the hospital for a few days.  Let me tell you, it was wild.

Since late August, I’ve been waging a losing battle with my tonsils, in which they develop tonsilitis to torture me.  I fight back by going to the doctor and zapping them with antbiotics.  Then they bring out their signature move: tonsilitis again, after the antibiotics are done.  We were neck-and-neck until I went to an ear, nose, and throat specialist who took a CT scan and revealed a devastating surprise move from the tonsils: an abcess that had to be drained. Oh snap.

I won’t go into the gory details of that, since having your tonsil drained of infected fluid is exactly as gross as it sounds.  Suffice it to say they were one up on me after that.  I plotted my revenge, and took the new different type of abcess-fighting-antibiotic the doctor perscribed me.  Only, one day after taking it, I started having a reaction to it, and was so sick that on Thursday, I had to go to the ER and be admitted to the hospital for a few days.  Double-crossed by a doctor… and a specialist, no less!  This was getting dirty.

Now, every time I’ve explained my predicament to anyone, their first question is, “Are they going to take your tonsils out?”

Of course not, I’m having too much fun battling them as it is.

I’ve actually wondered that myself, but the truth is, every time I’ve seen a doctor, their response to that issue has been, “Well, if this happens ONE MORE TIME, we’ll take them out.”  Yeah, okay.  Their argument is that getting a tonsillectomy in your 20s is much harder than when you’re a kid (when I had absolutely no problems with them, thanks guys), and requires at least two weeks of recovery, and what 23-year-old can afford to miss 2 weeks of work?

But as a wise friend pointed out to me more than once, with all the work I’ve ALREADY missed, and all the money I’ve spent on antibiotics, that argument is pretty much moot.  And by moot, I mean ridiculous.

With all that said, and the recent developments being what they are, I’m not exactly dying to jump back into the hospital for surgery.  So instead, I’m laying low for now, voting for Obama (yes that’s relevant), and mostly contemplating the lessons I learned in the hospital:

1.) Doctors and nurses are more obsessed with poop than I am. If you saw the following video, you should know it is not just a cute song, it’s the golden truth:

2.) When you get admitted, you are tempted to think, “hey, I am going to lay in bed for a few days and watch TV… this will be relaxing, maybe like a vacation!”  IT IS NOT.  Getting poked with needles every few hours, having to wheel an I.V. stand into the bathroom with you every time you go, and knowing that a whole team of people are VERY INTERESTED in what goes on in said bathroom, are not generally considered vacation activities.

3.) I love The Cosby Show.

4.) My mom was right: nurses really are awesome.

Anyway, I’m out now, and I’m on the mend… hopefully, I won’t ever have to do THAT again, but these are wiley tonsils, you see, so I’m still being cautious.  Stay tuned for further developments in the case Erin v. Tonsils.

Where Do I Go From Here?

I was going through the archives of this site and I realized that I totally breezed through the anniversary of the creation of this blog: August 29.

I admit I’ve been having trouble with this lately, as this blog was created primarily to keep friends and family members abreast of what I was up to in school.  Now that I’m not in school, I have to dig up ideas ON MY OWN, from my OWN BRAIN, as to the content of this blog.  Geez.

At times I’ve considered retiring this blog, but I can’t bring myself to do it, as the experience has been so rewarding.  Only now, I feel like I need to pick an idea and stick to it.  But how can I do that, when my regular, everyday musings are all over the place?

Anyway, stay tuned, I’ll be feeling out the destination of this here blog.  Feedback is certainly welcomed, as always.  But yeah, I guess this is the time in which the title, “Pursuing My Niche”, REALLY comes into play… since now, that is literally what I am doing.

)

Check It.

via Tuesday Ten: Feminist Stereotypes – Feministing

I probably qualify for many of these.

#4 is my favorite.

And yes, sadly, #10 is COMPLETELY TRUE.

Oh fall…

So in my new apartment, there is a gigantic maple outside the windows, and it is seducing me every day with the changing colors.

Wanna know what’s awesome? Waking up to a window right beside your bed that displays the beautiful fall leaves.

Each day, I’m falling more and more in love with my place. From the time the sun rises and shines into my yellow bathroom, to the sunset I can see right outside my living room window. And it’s mine.

For years, I’ve been terrified of living by myself, even though many people have told me you should do it if you have the opportunity. Why was I terrified? Well, lots of reasons, mostly stemming from my insecurity about my emotional stability (which sometimes indicates that I could be a total nutjob). Also, I loved living with my best friend for five years–who’d want to give that up? But the thing is, the Richmond Folk Festival is happening this weekend, and while that may seem like a non-sequitor, it means I’m coming up on a year of being single.

This is not a sad thing. Well, for months it was. But now, I am stronger than I ever have been, more myself than I’ve been in years, and taking risks I didn’t take before. Moving into this apartment has been a most symbolic step in my life. I have always been an independent type, and now I’m finding my way back to that place. I am me. I may like me. Those may seem silly–or even obnoxious–statements to make, but for me this is significant. The world is now my oyster. I feel good.

And P.S. – The soft-focus effect of the pictures isn’t a cool photoshop trick, it’s just that I took those pictures before my bedroom windows were properly cleaned. I thought it looked cool in the photographs though, so I left them that way–then promptly cleaned the crap out of them.

Hidden Messages.

It occurred to me whilst on the road the other day that hanging a pair of large testicles from the trailer hitch of your truck is a great way to say, “Hey ladies, be sure to stay as far away from me as possible.” It’s like a public service announcement for frequent travelers!

Now, you may be thinking, hey, what if the guy with balls on his truck just saw them and bought them because he thought they were funny?

Mmm… I don’t think so. The thing is, if you think that’s funny, what you do is go to Truck Testes ‘R’ Us (or wherever it is they sell those things) and stand in the store and say, “Ha-ha! Balls are funny! Ha-ha!”

But if you go so far as to actually exchange money for them, then you are dead serious, my friend.