Crate dates matter.

Turns out, eggs DO expire!  I had always been under the impression that eggs don’t expire, and boy did I have that notion dismissed fully and clearly.

Last Saturday,[info]coco_b mentioned that she would like to use some elderly bananas we had around for some banana bread.  So I whipped some up from a recipe we had gotten from our friend Audra.  I quickly dismissed the expiration date from some time in September on the egg crate and baked the bread.  Corinna ate quite a bit of it but I only had one slice.  A few hours later I started feeling ill, and an hour after that I started experiencing a very sharp 10-15 second pain in my lower abdomen every 1-5 minutes.  This continued all night, completely eliminating any chances of sleep.  I had hoped that by morning this would pass and we could stick to our plans of meeting up with at Six Flags.

I “woke” up feeling just as terrible as I had the night before, so Corinna called Tom and told him we wouldn’t be meeting him.  I sat around the house in pain all day, pretty miserable.  Tom came to stay at our place after he spent the day at the park, and we just chatted it up for a few hours before bedtime.  He half-joked that he could take me to the hospital in the morning if I needed it.  After another painful, sleepless night, I almost took him up on his offer..   I called my GP who was unavailable, and decided to go to the ER.  It occurred to me that if he drove me to the hospital it would completely eradicate any chance he would have to visit Boston during the day.  So I called a cab at 8am and went to the ER, and Corinna met me there around noon.  After lots of waiting, some X-Rays and CT Scans, and continuing pain, it was determined that I had an inflammation of my ileum.  The ER doctor speculated that it might be Crohn’s disease or IBS, but he deferred to the GI doctor I’d be seeing once I was admitted. After a full day in the emergency room, much of it on a stretcher in a hall, I was admitted in the late evening.

I went up to the 7th floor and put in a room, and like my stay a year or two prior for my appendicitis, I had a beautiful view of the Charles river.  It took awhile for a doctor to come and see me, and a bit longer for the nurse to finally bring something for my pain. Each individual spike of pain probably ranked 6 out of 10, but after feeling it every few minutes for 2+ sleepless days, it was really starting to break me down. The GI doctor I talked to said that he thought I was probably suffering a bacterial or viral infection, likely caused by bad food. He said he had no reason to suspect Crohn’s or IBS given my history (or lack thereof).  He said they would run some tests and keep me overnight.  He also put me on a clear liquid diet, which meant I was able to eat for the first time in 2 days (even if it was broth and jello).

I woke up feeling better, and more importantly, pain-free, and after lunch they advanced my diet to BRAT (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast) before discharging me.  Well, the pain returned after a few hours and they kept me another night.  Fortunately, I woke up without pain again (although still tender) and they once again advanced my diet to BRAT at lunch, and this time I tolerated it just fine. The doctors determined that I had a viral infection of my Ileum, and that it likely came from food, although they said it was also possible it had come through one of your usual viral vectors (handshakes, etc).  It would take a few days to clear up and some continued pain was to be expected while it did.  Finally after 2.5 days in the hospital, I went home with Corinna on Wednesday evening.

When I was first discharged I thought there was no way I was going to make the yearly Halloween Party up near Ithaca.  But after feeling solid on Thursday and waking up and feeling pretty well on Friday, we decided to give it a shot.  And I’m glad I did..  While it was odd not really being able to eat or drink anything at the party (We brought ginger ale and chicken soup for me), it was fantastic getting to see all my friends.  I even did an epic live edition of my radio show/podcast featuring live music.

Back to work today and slowly advancing my diet to normal food…  Still not quite feeling 100%, but getting close.   This would have been much more awful and difficult if not for Corinna.

The Girard Plague(tm)

Had a little get together for some various college friends this weekend in Hopatcong…   I’ve done this for the past few years, and everyone seems to enjoy it, especially when the weather is as gorgeous as it was this weekend past.  We just chilled out on the Party Barge, Regency Edition, swam, ate, and drank.  This party is always complicated because the boat really is the limiting factor, as it only seats 14 including the driver.  We were pretty much at capacity this year, which means I might seriously have to look into renting a second boat next year…  Which should make invitations less complicated but increase the planning required.

and

were among the attendees, and they came with a bit of a cold.  Unfortunately, I seem to have picked up that cold, and it is really kicking my ass (but I’m still glad they were able to come to the party)…   I’ve been out of work for the past two days, but I’m starting to come around…  I’m sure tomorrow I’ll be fighting off the congestion, and I probably won’t walk to work, but I’m starting to get a little stir-crazy in the house.

The couple buying the condo below us closed today, so it is our first evening with neighbors in two months.  I’ve gotten so used to having the run of the place, it will take a little getting used to.  They seem cool as hell, though, so I’m not anticipating any troubles…

1-09-06

This weekend was fun… Flew the helicopter, convalesced, watched “New York Doll” (highly recommended). I’m feeling quite better, seem to have dodged the mega-congestion I usually get after the sore throat phase of colds, I’m only slightly congested today.. Got my first dose (aside from the radio tests he did last week) of Stern on Sirius on the ride in this AM, which was cool… George Takei is an awesome choice as an announcer, his voice is fantastic.

Plague-ridden

Last night before bed I noticed the beginnings of a sore throat, so I popped back some Cold-Eeze. Around 5:00am I woke up with a terrible sore throat, and got up to get some water as well as another lozenge. I went back to bed and tossed and turned but couldn’t fall back asleep, so around 6am I decided to just get up, shower, and get to work. I got to work at 7:15am, which I believe is a new record for me at Goodrich.

I cancelled my subscription to Audible subscription yesterday… I had the plan where you get 1 audiobook and 1 subscription a month (which I used for Car Talk), but I haven’t been listening to the audiobooks during my normal commute, so they’ve been piling up.. I still love their service, and will eventually buy books piecemeal once I plow through my backlog, but the subscription is a bit too much in this age of podcasts… Not to mention Howard Stern… :)

Yesterday I bought a Sirius Satellite Radio receiver for my car with my Christmas cash.. I hadn’t been listening to Howard very reliably during my commute because my commute was just long enough to get two blocks of commercials and one block of content, which was pretty frustrating… I had been eyeing Sirius for a year or two now, but Howard is definitely what pushed me over the edge.. The best part was after I installed it in my car, I turned on Howard 100 and they just so happened to be doing a studio gear test at that moment with most of the crew, so it was like a little preview show. I’ve heard rumblings that the show will still have commercials, which would disappoint me (and probably cause me to drop my subscription, if they were overbearing), but hopefully they won’t be there (or at least won’t be bad). I figured the price of the Sirius subscription is less than what I was paying each month for Audible, so it’s a bit easier to justify. The other reason, besides Howard, was that without listening to the Radio anymore I was discovering less new music, so hopefully this will rectify that as well.

Beware of the Creeping Alarm

I have been feeling lousy for days now, and this morning I had a creeping alarm clock. After the 4th reset, I decided to call in sick to work. I don’t actually have any sick days yet, which means that I guess I am using a personal day, which kinda blows, cuz I will use my last one on Friday for graduation, but I haven’t been getting any better by trying to will this cold out of existence, so perhaps a day of sleep, blankets, and NyQuil will help. :)

Interesting Weekend

I get 12 free dialup hours through bluelight.com, which lets me check my email over weekends until the DSL comes through. So here I write…

When I got home from work on Friday, there was this cat kinda chilling in the stairwell, which was extrodinarily peculiar, because it was behind the second (locked) door to the building. I assumed it belonged to someone in the building, and thought nothing of it. When I saw it there a few hours later, I started worrying. I posted a note on the door, and asked around.

Friday night I had my first real get together-type-thing here at the new apartment, and Steve Bower, Adam, Molly, Rory, and Frances came over for food, drink, and B.S. It was cool, cuz I hadn’t seen Steve in about a year. Saturday morning the cat was still around, so Molly and Adam took it to make sure it was fed. It turns out that the girl in apartment 2 left for the weekend, and the cat must have scooted out past her when she was leaving. All is well now, but I think Molly was getting attached to the idea of owning the cat. :(

Saturday, I went out to Harvard Square to meet up with Jon Whitney and see Fellini’s Satyricon at the Brattle, which I had seen a long time ago, but didn’t really remember. It was allegedly a new print with the original un-edited subtitles, but the print seemed a bit beat up for a new one (tape, scratches, etc). The movie is definately out there, and it left me a little screwy for the rest of the night. After the movie I met some more of Jon’s friends, which was cool. I wasn’t feeling very well though, so I left early. I made it home in time to catch Walken n’ Weezer on SNL, both of which were great. The new Weezer album is growing on me more with each listen…

The Sopranos season finished tonight, and in retrospect I am very happy with this season. It was the darkest season of the three, but I think all in all it was better than the 2nd season, while perhaps a bit shy of the first. Rory came over to watch it with me, and we also watched the hit-man documentary afterwards.

This cold-illness-type-thing is waning, but it is still annoying. I want it to go away, so I am gonna hit the sack.

Surreal

On my way into work this morning there was a guy at the train station dressed in a Cow costume begging for money. It was one of the most surreal moments in my life.

I have a sore throat, and I contemplated calling out today. We will see how far I make it today.

Progressively feeling better…

After a kinda rough nights sleep, I am starting to feel a little better. After dealing with a few annoying things today, I just have my stupid Chem lab report to do… Not to be cocky, but I got a 99% on the last one, and I glided that one, so…

House meeting in a little while, then probably some Sopranos, the second season reruns start tonight.

I guess that pretty much wraps up this weekend… I had a good time, especially at Lindsay’s last night. I’m looking forward to the College Bowl next weekend.