My biohazard

As previously noted, I got really sick. My girlfriend unfortunately got sick too. I don’t know who gave it to who, but that’s really of no consequence. It made for a really rough week.

As you can surmise from my trashcan, my nose was going nuts the past couple days. I probably should have cleared this all out earlier to avoid contamination. It’s surprising I didn’t, because I have a newfound fear of our friend the germ. I’ve been typing on a Virtually Indestructible Keyboard for the past couple days. It’s not that nice to work on, but hey, I can throw it in the wash when I’m done and not worry about leftover germs. I’ve been going nuts with Lysol sanitizing wipes, and, more importantly, Purell. I must be using it like every five minutes. But such things are in order when you suddenly find your eye glued shut from infection. Ya, it was that fun.

Fortunately, my antibiotics have kicked in, my head is draining, and my eye is nearly healed. For as intelligent as I can be about some things (oh, and modest too!) I can be a real idiot about health issues. For instance, the notion of a copay seemed lost on me until I went to the doctor this past Thursday. It cost me $10. A whole $10! Wow, now that’s why I pay health insurance monthly. When I left the office, I actually thought, “wow, I should do that more often”. I don’t think I’ve been to a doctor in 5 years, and probably haven’t taken antibiotics in more than 10 (not that there is a problem with the latter). Which brings me to my final point, I think it’s about time I figure out if I’m really allergic to penicillin. Last time I took it was my Senior year of high school. The same weekend, I developed swelling on 70% of my body and had to take steroids to reduce the reaction. We had assumed it was the medication, but it wasn’t conclusive. I also got really sick last time I took erythromycin. As a result I get stuck with limited choices for antibiotics and they cost about 4 times as much.

Now I’m done rambling and feeling sorry for myself. Actually, I stopped feeling sorry for myself yesterday when I realized it was in excess.

—Nov 13, 2004