Over the viral infection

I am still alive guys. Just very busy at the moment.

Discovered the exchange currency rate for the British Pound was at its all time lowest today and decided to seize the opportunity to get The Chain, a photography book (photos of patients kept chained together in a Taiwanese mental institution) i have been eyeing for a long time but too reluctant to purchase because the exchange rate was too high.

Then i also realized that the US dollar was incredibly weak, and i started to extrapolate my thoughts (very very bad). In the end, i renewed all my magazine subscriptions  just to benefit from the low currency rate. I also started print subscriptions to several medical journals because dude, the student prices are waaay lower than the resident/physician prices, and i will cease to be a student at the end of this year. In other words, killed two birds with one stone.

Instead of feeling elated, i actually felt a bit sickened.

I need to reel in my splurges even if they were for a good cause.

The cost of a cough

I have completely lost my voice – can’t even utter a sound. I was pretty horrified; and i wondered if this will be permanent. Anyway this damn pharyngitis is costing me a heap load, even though i have yet to see a doctor. I missed BJJ training on Saturday and Monday and a soccer social tonight. My voice does not look like it is going to come back by tomorrow, which means i may have to miss my futsal coaching session tomorrow too. I have not been able to practice my flute either. Each training session costs me money! So annoyed. Maybe i should really look into preventative healthcare and invest in all those damn vitamins.

Anyway, the silver lining is that i have a legitimate reason to not turn up at the hospital. I am now based in the inpatient Cardiology unit with some really sick patients. I will stay away from them till the height of my infection is over – don’t want to make them sicker than they already on. So i have been home doing some self-studying, and lots of leisure reading, heaven forbade, bought more books from Book Depository. Seriously, i spend so much time on Book Depository, i might as well have it as my home page. But how can you miss out on hot offers – for example i have always wanted to get a copy of Fast Food Nation but could never quite bring myself to fork out the $15. Then i saw it was on sale for $5. I never thought i live to see the day that non-fiction books actually go so cheap! I also bought The House of God for less than $10. A friend picked a copy from the local bookstore for $22. She was shrieking when i told her how much i paid for mine. Heh. I intend to read The House of God during my Japan trip or when i am back in the Homeland, just before i start my internship next year.

Then in one of the many newsletters i get sent from various publishing companies (a good ploy to entice potential customers to spend money i can assure you), i bought The Case of the Pope, a Penguin special written by a journalist regarding the sex scandal. I am not religious despite being born a Catholic, so i was curious. Lastly, i finally sourced an affordable copy of The River by Ed Hooper (a book about the origin of AIDS). It is not in publish anymore, and i had to look at secondhand booksellers just to get my hands on a copy. So all’s good, and i am happy. Just need to get over my infection. If tomorrow my voice ain’t back, i really have to see a GP for some antibiotics i reckon. This is too severe to be viral.

Wow, i never knew

I hope i earn enough next year so i can order the National Geographic Wild and Animal Planet channels on cable TV. The package comes free with a History channel too! (I know i am nerdy; but i can’t help it. I will fall asleep with realty shows or other usual programmes unless it is crime such as CSI or Numbers.)

Lump at the side of the head

Lance, the baby budgerigar i rescued months ago from three vicious magpies, has developed a massive lump on the left side of his head. I have noticed the lump a few months ago but it was small and hidden by feathers. I asked The Housemate to take a look because my differentials were all ominous. In the end, we decided perhaps the lump was its ear. See, we never rear birds in our life ever (and i will probably never keep one as a pet again, unless i have the misfortune to stumble across under crippled bird), so we really do not know any better.

Except yesterday, just before i turned off the lights to my living room (where the bird cage is also situated), i caught a horrifying glimpse of the lump on the bird’s head. For some inexplicable reason, the lump had swelled up and now it was protruding from the side of the budgie’s head like some tumourous growth. I wondered for a moment, if the bird has a bird-variant of neurofibromatosis. Maybe that is why it can’t fly. Then i started fretting about potential zoonotic infections that we can get because of this disease-for-which-i-have-no-name-for that Lance has.

I told the housemate and she had a second look and a second opinion. She was as shocked but more sympathetic towards the bird. I was more concerned with the potential health issues and the monetary burden that has just been unceremoniously shoved upon me. I would have brought the bird to the vet immediately except i do not have a voice. Not even a rasp. That is how bad my pharyngitis has evolved. I could not even call the clinic to book an appointment.

The Housemate said she will make an appointment for me tomorrow, though we have yet to figure how exactly i am going to communicate the problem to the vet. Perhaps it will be self-explanatory. But the other issue is that i hope the vet that i like is on shift tomorrow. Otherwise i will not bother rocking up to the vet. I do not like his business partner, who seemed very incline to euthanize animals. He may have his reasons, but his bedside manner with pet owners really suck, so i am steering clear of him.

See how tomorrow goes.

And i thought i got away

On the last day of my GP rotation, two thoughts struck me. One, i had been pretty lucky – despite missing my annual influenza vaccination, i managed to get away scot-free even though 80% of the patients i saw, came in with sniffles. Two, this fit-looking adult male patient came in with a moderate fever hitting 38 degrees celcius; and i marveled that i have not met any adult with a fever in ages (they are usually kids) and that personally, i have not had a fever since i was a kid.

Usually when i think these thoughts, i know i probably jinxed myself. As of recent years, i have decided it is less about jinxing and more about premonition. Anyway, i was auscultating this guy’s chest (the same guy with a fever), and he did me the courtesy of exhaling in my face. (Clearly all brawn and no brains.) Guys, let me give you a tip – if your doctor is listening to your chest trying to figure out a diagnosis, you should turn your head and aim your breaths/coughs/sneezes/all other projectile bodily fluids away from the doctor. I was appalled, and i prayed fervently that i would not get his bacterial infection, but i know there was a slim chance. His bacterial infection had bulldozed through his entire family and finally he himself succumbed to it. Clearly a very contagious strain.

Fifteen minutes later, i kid you not, i felt one of my tonsils throbbed. I hastily downed a glass of cold water (i am very bad at maintaining self-hydration) but i know it was too late. That was Friday, also the last day of my GP rotation. I took the dog for a run in the beautiful sunshine and although i shaved 6 minutes off my running time as compared to my time from way before i started soccer; i really felt like crap after the work-out.

Saturday i woke up with such an achy throat, i felt like throttling someone. I could not rock up for BJJ training because i think my tonsils may just fucking burst if someone decides to execute a choke on me. Argh. So i took Saturday off (although i did attend a few house auctions with a couple of friends. Sometimes i wonder if we are out of our minds – tell me, why would a medical student, not yet out of the ‘sausage factory’ as one of my consultants used to say much to my amusement, attend auctions for million-dollar houses? No, ‘just trying to get an idea of the current property market’ is a reason not good enough. Alas, we still go.) and Sunday came round, and can you believe it, i was feeling worse. In fact, i started spitting out phlegm and i tried to peer into my mouth to see if i have exudates on my tonsils (can’t see and don’t want to gag). I think it is viral – so nothing i can do but rest, rest and rest. I didn’t. HAHAHAHA. I went out for dinner with a group of girlfriends. Spicy Sichuan cuisine followed by delicious waffles with ice-cream.

Today i woke up, and my voice is non-existent. And i have a cough to top it off. FANTASTIC.

I called the clinical school to let them know i will not be coming in (my voice barely a croak, and the Dean’s assistant could barely make out what i said) because my Dean is infamous for breathing down anyone’s neck for playing truant. Sometimes i think we medical students, all in our mid-twenties and over, really just play this stupid game with the Dean out of amusement.

Anyway, so that’s my weekend. Pleasant.