Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Well... it's not Gallstones (Warning - Too Much Information Follows)

There's no doubt that I didn't want to return to Ohio and head back to work after a week of vacation, but I didn't want a damn stomach virus.

My plans were to leave my hometown and return to Ohio this past Saturday. That would give me a full day to prepare for a new work week. My mom asked me to stay an extra day and we'd see a movie together. Mom and I use to always watch movies together, but it's difficult to do these days when you live 3 hours apart. I was up for a movie since we were planning on seeing Elizabethtown, but lo and behold, the movie theater wasn't showing the movie. Damn the theater. Still I stay. No problem.

I'm sound asleep until 2:30am Sunday morning my stomach feels queasy. I get up, head to the bathroom and a couple minutes later my arms are grasping the small trash can with my face not inches above it. (In my experience, it's best to be sitting on the toilet with the trash can nearby. ;0) )

In my head I knew this wasn't going to be just a one incident in the bathroom. I was going to have a long night, and day. I don't become sick too often, but when I do, it's not pretty. My stomach has a history of catching a virus and it all has to come up. Every last drop of liquid (bile).

(If this is too much you can always hit the BACK buttton.)

I'll skip ahead to about 4:30 pm Sunday, my stomach is almost completely empty. History reminds me not to eat or drink anything, having ice is even risky for fear that it will come back up. With a fever of 101.2 degrees I finally ask my mom to take me to the local hospital Emergency Room. (I was born in the hospital, visited the ER several times in my lifetime, and let me tell you, the place is different every time you go there. I'll have to provide a separate post on the ER some other time.)

Let's see here, I'm dehydrated, feverish, thirsty, and still queasy though I hadn't vomited in almost 4-5 hours. The nurses take some blood, make me pee in a cup (it was either that or something else done to me to provide them with a sample that I didn't want to endure), set me up with an I. V. and gave me a drip medicine to prevent the vomiting. About an hour later, the discharge nurse comes in to let me leave the ER and what do I do, I head straight to the restroom to vomit again. I had never felt so dizzy rushing to the restroom. I didn't want to vomit in the room I was in because I was sharing a room with someone else and didn't want them to hear me wretching. Believe me, it doesn't sound good. Barely made it to the restroom and I wonder if people thought I was going to fall before I arrived. (Yes that dizzy). So, I had the pleasure I receiving more medicine to prevent the vomiting, and this time it worked.

Next day I had a gallbladder ultrasound. The technicians were bound to obtain good pictures because there was nothing left in my system. My bile duct looks kinda odd on the screen. I didn't like the comment, "that looks small." What looks small? Tell me! But technicians aren't allowed to say anything like that. I think that was just a slip.

My boss doesn't expect me back until Monday. He told me to not come back until I'm well. Feeling better today, expect I can't talk too well. All the stomach acid coming up did a number on my throat. Nothing tastes good either. I was so looking forward to a nice cold crisp drink of 7up, or Sprite, or water, but all I tasted was something gross. I was so disappointed.

So that's how things have been for me for the past couple of days. I do have a couple of comments about my trips to the local Wal-Mart here in my hometown, but that's for another day.

Have a good day everyone.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Thoughts on Vacation - Myrtle Beach, SC

After the many years of hearing about my classmates, friends, and co-workers making the trip to Myrtle Beach, SC for vacation, I finally make the trip myself. It was actually an accident that I made it to the Beach, but I'll accept any accident like that. Stayed in a very nice villa on the beach with my mom and two of her friends, and the only reason why I was able to go was that my dad backed out of the trip. So I decided to give up a week of work to travel the 10 hours to the beach with my mom. I tell you, the decision was difficult.

If it wasn't for the Beach, I was have to say Myrtle Beach is overated. It really is. The streets are lined with almost the same kind of shops, places to eat, and attractions that I could have found near the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. Things that MB has that the Mountains doesn't...
  • An over abundance of seafood. Most of the seafood was breaded and fried, not my favorite. I will give a thumbs up to Sea Captains Seafood House. A local seafood place which has good shrimp and clam chowder.
  • The Beach itself. I won't walk too far into the ocean, but I can't put into words the feel of waves washing over my feet.
  • The Sunrise. The sun comes up over the ocean, and sets among buildings. Yes I woke up early enough to watch the sun rise, and I advise everyone to do that sometime in their life. (I'll provide pictures later.)
  • A glimpse of old Myrtle Beach. I love history. Love to see it. Read about it. Whatever. I found driving down Ocean Blvd. and interesting site because I saw many hotels and establishments that spoke of the old days of Myrtle Beach. Much was closed or had NO VACANCY do to the off season, but I wanted to see it anyways.
  • The Pavilion. Also closed, but I wanted to see it. Nothing much to look at. A couple of rides and most likely a little more, but I saw it. Now that I've seen it, the greatness is gone.

Similarities between MB and the Smokey Mus.

  • The shows. Establishments where people pay a good sum of money to watch people sing to other people's songs, dance, tell jokes, and other whatnot. Mostly older people go. I think I was one of the 10 people under the age of 40 who was at the packed crowd at the Carolina Opry. I think I would have hated the show had they not played a country song by Sara Evan (a current country singer where I believe I was the only person who knew the song by heart - my mom was clueless about it.)
  • The outlet stores. Outlet stores are everywhere now. I live close to one infact. So for me to spend money at a store in MB or the Smokey Mts. is crazy.
  • Entertainment for kids. For all those parents out there, you'll never be at lost to keep your kids entertained.
  • The traffic. For being the off season, the traffic wasn't too bad. Beware of the summer though, I can tell you it's probably horrible. This is for both places.
  • Dolly Parton. Yes, I said Dolly Parton. Ms. Parton (is she married) owns an establishment called Dixie Stampede (did I spell that correctly?) They are both in MB and the Mts. It's a dinner and a show where there are no utencils and you watching people ride horses and such. I saw the one in Mts. I didn't need to see it again.

I'm going to stop there. Somethings I just can't explain. It's after midnight and my creativity is all gone. I believe I'm even misspelling everything.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Make me that!!!

I must say that I don't curse too often. Except for the "fuck" I write every so often on this blog. If you feel offended in reading it, all you have to do is press the back button. Not too difficult. I had the need to apologize to my friend the other day when I was in the middle of a loud rant about work using curse words. I think my phrase was, "What the fuck is the library suppose to be?" The statement said in a complete sarcastic tone, with my anger focused at upper management personnel who know shit about running a library. I think the reason why I felt the urge to apologize was her tale about going to church earlier in the day. Oh well.

A friend of mine who likes to cross stitch directed me to a wonderful website... Subversive Cross Stitch. I like to call it cursing in cross stitch. I'm quite fond of what I've found, and may have to design some of my own. Two of my favorites...







I suppose my parents wouldn't be too pleased to see that hanging on the wall of my apartment. But then again, they don't live here.