Kitty Litter
Friday, July 29, 2005
Hormonal Hostage
Warning: This is a completely self-pitying, whiny-arsed entry. You have been warned. It’s probably my excess of estrogen talking.
I got confirmation at the hospital yesterday (and a bunch of medical certificates for UP) that I managed to fight off two infections (while becoming anemic) over the last two weeks. It’s been terribly boring being confined to bed and forced to nap every few hours. The trouble is, my mind is perfectly fine; I am not delirious or feverish or anything we normally associate with “sick.” Yet I am condemned to more bed rest to help my body recover…too bad I already called for classes on Tuesday, damn it.
Worse, the two infections were completely my fault; I’d been warned to stay in bed the week of July 18-22 and what did I do? I went to school Tuesday and Friday. Kick me now.
But I am terribly weak; going up stairs requires willpower from me, and I feel faint after any normal effort. Yesterday, all I did was go down the stairs and accompany Polar Bearball to the gate…and I nearly threw up. I have no idea how I’m going to manage four classes every TF.
The worst part? Food makes me nauseous, and I’ve taken to having milk, juice, and Slim Fast for meals. If you don’t understand what a tragedy this is for me, then you haven’t known frustration; I love food, and this is just wrong.
The good news: I am OK in the normal sense of the word. But how do you explain chronic fatigue to an elevator operator? Yesterday I spent an entire day wasted (9:30-4:45 pm) just waitingwaitingwaiting for doctors; the actual amount of time I spent “in their care” lasted only thirty minutes, tops. For all of them, including the ultrasound.
The waiting wore me out so badly that when I got home, I collapsed into bed. Polar Bearball noted I had a mild fever later in the night.
Seems my body is completely drained from the infections, the anemia, and the excessive bleeding from my period. My doctor was surprised I could even stand up; I bit my tongue to keep from telling her, “Oo nga e, and you’re making it worse by making me wait 3 hours for a ten minute consultation with you.” It wasn’t her fault.
Now I have to take pills for my hormones. Holy cow, I didn’t even think those things affected me. I used to laugh at those who needed medication to control their moods, and I thought it was a funny affectation.
When you’re one of them, it isn’t funny. My hormones make me weak, sweaty, cranky, moody. I realized this when, after sitting on an extremely uncomfortable bench for 3 hours, I began to cry.
I’ve never done this before, let alone in public. Lucky I had a towel, and I disguised it as sweat. Remind me never to joke about asking for a prescription for an antidepressant.
I need to go on leave from UP next semester, and I have no idea how I’ll get through this one. I have no patience left, let alone for idiots and delinquents (which pretty much kills my ability to teach my GE subjects effectively). I am moody, cranky, and depressed for no reason, and I have to wait until my blood normalizes and my hormones stabilize.
In the meantime, I have to keep taking amoxicillin, double doses of iron, an antidepressant, a blood sugar regulator, and hormone pills. Bright side is, I still have my sense of humor, sort of. Once that goes, I’ll know it’s time to make the will. Anyone want my books after Polar Bearball's had his pick? ;p
I got confirmation at the hospital yesterday (and a bunch of medical certificates for UP) that I managed to fight off two infections (while becoming anemic) over the last two weeks. It’s been terribly boring being confined to bed and forced to nap every few hours. The trouble is, my mind is perfectly fine; I am not delirious or feverish or anything we normally associate with “sick.” Yet I am condemned to more bed rest to help my body recover…too bad I already called for classes on Tuesday, damn it.
Worse, the two infections were completely my fault; I’d been warned to stay in bed the week of July 18-22 and what did I do? I went to school Tuesday and Friday. Kick me now.
But I am terribly weak; going up stairs requires willpower from me, and I feel faint after any normal effort. Yesterday, all I did was go down the stairs and accompany Polar Bearball to the gate…and I nearly threw up. I have no idea how I’m going to manage four classes every TF.
The worst part? Food makes me nauseous, and I’ve taken to having milk, juice, and Slim Fast for meals. If you don’t understand what a tragedy this is for me, then you haven’t known frustration; I love food, and this is just wrong.
The good news: I am OK in the normal sense of the word. But how do you explain chronic fatigue to an elevator operator? Yesterday I spent an entire day wasted (9:30-4:45 pm) just waitingwaitingwaiting for doctors; the actual amount of time I spent “in their care” lasted only thirty minutes, tops. For all of them, including the ultrasound.
The waiting wore me out so badly that when I got home, I collapsed into bed. Polar Bearball noted I had a mild fever later in the night.
Seems my body is completely drained from the infections, the anemia, and the excessive bleeding from my period. My doctor was surprised I could even stand up; I bit my tongue to keep from telling her, “Oo nga e, and you’re making it worse by making me wait 3 hours for a ten minute consultation with you.” It wasn’t her fault.
Now I have to take pills for my hormones. Holy cow, I didn’t even think those things affected me. I used to laugh at those who needed medication to control their moods, and I thought it was a funny affectation.
When you’re one of them, it isn’t funny. My hormones make me weak, sweaty, cranky, moody. I realized this when, after sitting on an extremely uncomfortable bench for 3 hours, I began to cry.
I’ve never done this before, let alone in public. Lucky I had a towel, and I disguised it as sweat. Remind me never to joke about asking for a prescription for an antidepressant.
I need to go on leave from UP next semester, and I have no idea how I’ll get through this one. I have no patience left, let alone for idiots and delinquents (which pretty much kills my ability to teach my GE subjects effectively). I am moody, cranky, and depressed for no reason, and I have to wait until my blood normalizes and my hormones stabilize.
In the meantime, I have to keep taking amoxicillin, double doses of iron, an antidepressant, a blood sugar regulator, and hormone pills. Bright side is, I still have my sense of humor, sort of. Once that goes, I’ll know it’s time to make the will. Anyone want my books after Polar Bearball's had his pick? ;p
posted by Kitty Litter at 10:28 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home