Posted in Personal Notes on Nov 8th, 2011
Dateline 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, November 8, 2011 Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei
I have just been duly informed that I will be in the hospital for another day. They need to rule out vasculitis, or some such thing. In the meantime, I’m still on a massive antibiotic IV drip every four hours, although one of the nurses just told me that they will stop the IVp today and will be switching to oral antibiotics.
This is GREAT. The needle comes out of my arm. YES! Yahoo!
Dateline 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, November 8, 2011 Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei
I have just been duly informed that I will be in the hospital for another day. They need to rule out vasculitis, or some such thing. In the meantime, I’m still on a massive antibiotic IV drip every four hours, although one of the nurses just told me that they will stop the IVp today and will be switching to oral antibiotics.
This is GREAT. The needle comes out of my arm. YES! Yahoo!
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Posted in Personal Notes on Nov 7th, 2011
A kind of timelessness reigns within the four walls of a hospital room. There’s no day, no night. No time. Weather doesn’t exist. The temperature never varies. If you didn’t have a watch or a computer, it’d be kinda hard to tell when it was.
(I’m sure that if you left me here long enough, I’d wonder what it was.)
Without a nurse coming in every couple of hours to poke, prod or palpitate something, the passage of time and the rhythm of life becomes confusing. At least, that’s what it feels like in the morning, just before you’ve had breakfast and started thinking up how and when you’re going to get to a WIFI point.
A kind of timelessness reigns within the four walls of a hospital room. There’s no day, no night. No time. Weather doesn’t exist. The temperature never varies. If you didn’t have a watch or a computer, it’d be kinda hard to tell when it was.
(I’m sure that if you left me here long enough, I’d wonder what it was.)
Without a nurse coming in every couple of hours to poke, prod or palpitate something, the passage of time and the rhythm of life becomes confusing. At least, that’s what it feels like in the morning, just before you’ve had breakfast and started thinking up how and when you’re going to get to a WIFI point.
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Posted in Personal Notes on Nov 6th, 2011
Oh, maybe I should update you on my condition. Remember when I told you about hospitals being places for the curious?
Well, that’s also true for doctors.
They certainly were curious enough about my little problem. There must have been seven doctors come around and stare at my ankles. You could almost hear the “whoops, that’s bad” alarm go off in their heads.
Every time I ask one of them when they’ll let me out of here, they keep adding a day to my incarceration – and new possible sources for my infection.
Oh, maybe I should update you on my condition. Remember when I told you about hospitals being places for the curious?
Well, that’s also true for doctors.
They certainly were curious enough about my little problem. There must have been seven doctors come around and stare at my ankles. You could almost hear the “whoops, that’s bad” alarm go off in their heads.
Every time I ask one of them when they’ll let me out of here, they keep adding a day to my incarceration – and new possible sources for my infection.
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Posted in Personal Notes on Nov 5th, 2011
You can get in a lot of trouble in the hospital by just being curious – especially, if you have no idea what the sign says, but you feel like the button REALLY wants to be pushed.
For the first two days here, I was permanently attached to an IV, with an IV stand built for tiny people. Why does size matter when it comes to your IV? Well, if the hydraulic pump that runs your body’s fluid system rises ABOVE that little drip-drip thingy in your IV, it stops dripping. In other words, if your heart gets too high, your IV starts SUCKING your blood, instead of adding all those delightful chemicals you came to the hospital for in the first place.
You can get in a lot of trouble in the hospital by just being curious – especially, if you have no idea what the sign says, but you feel like the button REALLY wants to be pushed.
For the first two days here, I was permanently attached to an IV, with an IV stand built for tiny people. Why does size matter when it comes to your IV? Well, if the hydraulic pump that runs your body’s fluid system rises ABOVE that little drip-drip thingy in your IV, it stops dripping. In other words, if your heart gets too high, your IV starts SUCKING your blood, instead of adding all those delightful chemicals you came to the hospital for in the first place.
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Posted in Personal Notes on Nov 4th, 2011
Would you believe, that this is the first time that I’ve ever been in the hospital?
I wouldn’t believe it myself – except for the fact that I’m in one of those adjustable hospital beds with a needle stuck in my arm dripping heavy antibiotics into my body.
And, all of this because of a lousy mosquito bite. Who would have thought that a female of another species could take a guy down so hard? And yes, for those of you who don’t know, it is the female of the mosquito species that seeks to make your life miserable and infect you with something really nasty-awful.
Would you believe, that this is the first time that I’ve ever been in the hospital?
I wouldn’t believe it myself – except for the fact that I’m in one of those adjustable hospital beds with a needle stuck in my arm dripping heavy antibiotics into my body.
And, all of this because of a lousy mosquito bite. Who would have thought that a female of another species could take a guy down so hard? And yes, for those of you who don’t know, it is the female of the mosquito species that seeks to make your life miserable and infect you with something really nasty-awful.
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