3. and I quote "Babe.......BABE.......BABE, you're not paying enough attention to my herpes sores." He's a charming devil, that one. Luckily those herpes sores are looking much better now.
2. "WREAGGGHHHH"... again. I was barely keeping it together as my body soared to a high high fever and my nausea keep getting stronger and then that dear little boy blew foul smelling chunks all over my classroom. I left school shortly there after in tears from a high fever and exhaustion and scaring everyone in my path, including the taxi driver who kept telling me to go to the hospital.
1. "I think you have the flu, but it could be Dengue. There is an outbreak of Dengue right now in Bangkok." I sat there, moribund, in the doctors office counting all the countless mosquito bites I've suffered in the past week.
Luckily, its the flu. The most atrocious, lay-you-flat-and-rob-you-of-your-will-to-live flu I have ever experienced. The symptoms started on Tuesday and I have just now found the energy to sit at the computer and type this out. But, on the bright side, at least its not dengue. Woohoo.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Herpes...but not that kind of herpes!
Three days ago I developed a raging headache. When I say raging I mean that it was bad enough to keep me from wanting to talk. I wasn't even talking to myself. I thought I was severely dehydrated so I started drinking more water.
About the same time I noticed three crazy bumps on my shoulder. I thought they were a weird cluster of pimples or just massive mosquito bites. Neither being an odd thing.
I went to work with my aching head and my tender 'pimples', got through my day, came home and spent the evenings lying on the couch, staring in the direction of the TV/wall, not speaking the whole evening.
The second day I asked Maya to have a look at my 'pimples' because they were really sore. I still had not connected them to my raging headache (now on day two). She did.
She said they looked funny. She said I should get them checked out. She said they were black on the inside. That sounded pretty strange, but they were on my shoulder blade so I couldn't really look at them.
Maya took a picture with the camera phone and, she was right, they were black. My first thought was maybe that it was some kind of mosquito-bite cum staph infection, knowing how prone I am to staph infections, but none of the other tell-tell signs of a staph infection were visible. No funny red lines tracing the path of my lymph system. No swelling. No puss bubbles.
I decided it wasn't staph and that maybe my backpack strap had scraped off the tops of the bites/pimples and the black dots in the center of them were just some kind of weird internal scab.
Not so lucky.
I also found it weird that I was developing another, very similar, cluster of odd looking bite-type things on my right tricep. Coincidence? I thought so. There are lots of mosquitoes in Thailand and I didn't have to think very hard before I decided that having similar bite patterns was probably not that odd of an occurrence.
Man, am I dumb.
Today was weird again. I woke up with the same intense headache I had gone to bed with, but that wasn't what was strange. I had been waking up with the same headache for a couple of days now. What was strange was that it felt like the back of my arm had been bruised, it was very tender and very sore.
My first thought was that I had possibly tried to deliver the 'flying elbow of vengence' to Maya at some point in the middle of the night to punish her, for unfailingly taking the blanket all the way over to the other side of the bed, and missed...possibly hitting the night stand instead but still failing to actually wake myself up. I decided not to ask Maya in case I might incriminate myself.
So, the soreness persisted in my arm and about half way through the day I felt the bruise spreading into my shoulder, down my arm, down my back and through my ribs. Still no visible signs of infection (bacterial, that is) I finally linked my raging headache to the funny thing on my back, though. I became intensely aware that the pulsing headache had roots under those crazy three black dots on my shoulder blade.
Headache persisting and invisible bruise growing, Maya began insisting. Go to a clinic, Brett. Go to a clinic, Brett. Go to a clinic, Brett.
I was stubborn. No. No. No. No.
Maya said, Are you ready? Let's go!
I said, O.K.
We went to the office of our building and asked for the closest clinic. Suphab, the matron of the building and, as it turns out, the neighborhood, was curious about why I was seeking out a clinic. I told her that I was afraid I had some kind of infection and wanted to get some things checked out. She gave us directions to the neighborhood clinic.
We got there. It wasn't open. We called back to the office of our building. Suphab suggested I had herpes. I winced. Herpes is bad and I couldn't think of anything that I had done that would warrant me breaking out in herpes on my shoulder blade and arm.
She came and picked us up and took us to the hospital.
Turns out it was herpes.
A better way to describe it might be like a muted case of the chicken pox.
Otherwise known as shingles. This is what wikipedia has to say on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_zoster.
That's my story for the week. I am currently on a program of skin ointment and antiviral pills that should keep me busy for the next seven days. Maya wants me to let you all know that she is too lazy to write her own post, so she wants me to tell you all that she got thrown up on, all over her lap, today. She knows it isn't as bad as shingles...but it is much smellier.
About the same time I noticed three crazy bumps on my shoulder. I thought they were a weird cluster of pimples or just massive mosquito bites. Neither being an odd thing.
I went to work with my aching head and my tender 'pimples', got through my day, came home and spent the evenings lying on the couch, staring in the direction of the TV/wall, not speaking the whole evening.
The second day I asked Maya to have a look at my 'pimples' because they were really sore. I still had not connected them to my raging headache (now on day two). She did.
She said they looked funny. She said I should get them checked out. She said they were black on the inside. That sounded pretty strange, but they were on my shoulder blade so I couldn't really look at them.
Maya took a picture with the camera phone and, she was right, they were black. My first thought was maybe that it was some kind of mosquito-bite cum staph infection, knowing how prone I am to staph infections, but none of the other tell-tell signs of a staph infection were visible. No funny red lines tracing the path of my lymph system. No swelling. No puss bubbles.
I decided it wasn't staph and that maybe my backpack strap had scraped off the tops of the bites/pimples and the black dots in the center of them were just some kind of weird internal scab.
Not so lucky.
I also found it weird that I was developing another, very similar, cluster of odd looking bite-type things on my right tricep. Coincidence? I thought so. There are lots of mosquitoes in Thailand and I didn't have to think very hard before I decided that having similar bite patterns was probably not that odd of an occurrence.
Man, am I dumb.
Today was weird again. I woke up with the same intense headache I had gone to bed with, but that wasn't what was strange. I had been waking up with the same headache for a couple of days now. What was strange was that it felt like the back of my arm had been bruised, it was very tender and very sore.
My first thought was that I had possibly tried to deliver the 'flying elbow of vengence' to Maya at some point in the middle of the night to punish her, for unfailingly taking the blanket all the way over to the other side of the bed, and missed...possibly hitting the night stand instead but still failing to actually wake myself up. I decided not to ask Maya in case I might incriminate myself.
So, the soreness persisted in my arm and about half way through the day I felt the bruise spreading into my shoulder, down my arm, down my back and through my ribs. Still no visible signs of infection (bacterial, that is) I finally linked my raging headache to the funny thing on my back, though. I became intensely aware that the pulsing headache had roots under those crazy three black dots on my shoulder blade.
Headache persisting and invisible bruise growing, Maya began insisting. Go to a clinic, Brett. Go to a clinic, Brett. Go to a clinic, Brett.
I was stubborn. No. No. No. No.
Maya said, Are you ready? Let's go!
I said, O.K.
We went to the office of our building and asked for the closest clinic. Suphab, the matron of the building and, as it turns out, the neighborhood, was curious about why I was seeking out a clinic. I told her that I was afraid I had some kind of infection and wanted to get some things checked out. She gave us directions to the neighborhood clinic.
We got there. It wasn't open. We called back to the office of our building. Suphab suggested I had herpes. I winced. Herpes is bad and I couldn't think of anything that I had done that would warrant me breaking out in herpes on my shoulder blade and arm.
She came and picked us up and took us to the hospital.
Turns out it was herpes.
A better way to describe it might be like a muted case of the chicken pox.
Otherwise known as shingles. This is what wikipedia has to say on the subject:
Herpes zoster (or simply zoster), commonly known as shingles, is a viral diseaseblisters in a limited area on one side of the body. The initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV) causes the acute (short-lived) illness chickenpox, and generally occurs in children and young people. Once an episode of chickenpox has resolved, the virus is not eliminated from the body but can go on to cause shingles—an illness with very different symptoms—often many years after the initial infection.
Varicella zoster virus can become latent in the nerve cell bodies and less frequently in non-neuronal satellite cells of dorsal root, cranial nerve or autonomic ganglion,[1] without causing any symptoms.[2] In an immunocompromised individual, perhaps years or decades after a chickenpox infection, the virus may break out of nerve cell bodies and travel down nerve axonssegment and infect the corresponding dermatome[3][4] Although the rash usually heals within two to four weeks, some sufferers experience residual nerve pain for months or years, a condition called postherpetic neuralgia. Exactly how the virus remains latent in the body, and subsequently re-activates is not understood.[1]
If you can't read that because I have made it way too small, here is the link to the page:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_zoster.
That's my story for the week. I am currently on a program of skin ointment and antiviral pills that should keep me busy for the next seven days. Maya wants me to let you all know that she is too lazy to write her own post, so she wants me to tell you all that she got thrown up on, all over her lap, today. She knows it isn't as bad as shingles...but it is much smellier.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Lightening storms, algebra, and cab drivers who don't match their photos.
NEW RULE #1: If you get into a taxi and the photo of the driver in the cab license does not match the actual driver it is a good idea to put on your seatbelt and take your neck brace out of your bag and put it on.
NEW RULE #2: Always carry a neck brace in your bag in case you get into a taxi where the photo of the driver in the cab license does not match the actual driver.
NEW RULE #3: Be prepared that, when learning algebra, there is some kind of strange neurological electrical storm that begins to occur in the minds of 11 year old students that can cause them to spontaneously do something like this:
This move ends with the student landing on his feet behind his chair and then sitting down to return to copy the rules of angles from the board. The rules of angles are pretty straight forward. However, in the time it took me to write the eight rules to angles on the board one student managed to do this two times.
The eight rules are as follows:
5. An exterior angles of a triangle is equal to the sum of the two opposite interior angles.
6. An isosceles triangle has two equal sides. The base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal
7. An equilateral triangle is a triangle with three equal sides and three equal angles.
8. A rhombus and a parallelogram have two pairs of parallel lines.
Truly an amazing thing to catch out of the corner of your eye.
Which brings me to the thunderstorms in Bangkok. Also a truly amazing thing to behold and probably not terribly dissimilar to the event that is occurring in the minds of eleven year olds when studying algebra.
For a couple of nights in a row, Maya and I have turned off all the lights and sat on the couch watching the sky outside our window. We have seen some truly breathtaking demonstrations of the power of nature as thunderbolts have come shooting out of the sky close enough that we can't count to one before the sonic boom of thousands of pounds of superheated and quickly dissipated air rattle the very foundation of the building that we live in. And that is to say nothing of the rain that accompanies it. Luckily, the storms usually role in around ten o'clock at night so we have plenty of time to get in our after-work swim before Thor unleashes his wrath on this poor city in Thailand that has absolutely no idea who he even is.
As I write this blog I look like this:
Oh, and I should totally, like, be grading papers right now. Ha!
NEW RULE #2: Always carry a neck brace in your bag in case you get into a taxi where the photo of the driver in the cab license does not match the actual driver.
NEW RULE #3: Be prepared that, when learning algebra, there is some kind of strange neurological electrical storm that begins to occur in the minds of 11 year old students that can cause them to spontaneously do something like this:
This move ends with the student landing on his feet behind his chair and then sitting down to return to copy the rules of angles from the board. The rules of angles are pretty straight forward. However, in the time it took me to write the eight rules to angles on the board one student managed to do this two times.The eight rules are as follows:
- The sum of angles on a straight line is 180 degrees
- The sum of angles at a point is 360 degrees.
- Vertically opposite angles are equal.
- The sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 degrees.
5. An exterior angles of a triangle is equal to the sum of the two opposite interior angles.
6. An isosceles triangle has two equal sides. The base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal
7. An equilateral triangle is a triangle with three equal sides and three equal angles.
8. A rhombus and a parallelogram have two pairs of parallel lines.
Truly an amazing thing to catch out of the corner of your eye.Which brings me to the thunderstorms in Bangkok. Also a truly amazing thing to behold and probably not terribly dissimilar to the event that is occurring in the minds of eleven year olds when studying algebra.
For a couple of nights in a row, Maya and I have turned off all the lights and sat on the couch watching the sky outside our window. We have seen some truly breathtaking demonstrations of the power of nature as thunderbolts have come shooting out of the sky close enough that we can't count to one before the sonic boom of thousands of pounds of superheated and quickly dissipated air rattle the very foundation of the building that we live in. And that is to say nothing of the rain that accompanies it. Luckily, the storms usually role in around ten o'clock at night so we have plenty of time to get in our after-work swim before Thor unleashes his wrath on this poor city in Thailand that has absolutely no idea who he even is.
As I write this blog I look like this:
Oh, and I should totally, like, be grading papers right now. Ha!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)