That was the worst 3 weeks of my life!

[Chastity]

Hey everyone. I'm sure everyone was wondering where I was all this time. No, my computer did not mess up on me. I missed the forum so much. That's all I can think about. I had an awful time staying at the hospital for two weeks.

I won't go into too much detail right now since I'm a bit tired but it started the day I went to the Tibetan cultural fair. I had this weird headache and I went to sleep at Fred's. I woke up with this terrible neck pain and sore throat. Throughout the week, I was getting fevers and chills and things like that. I figured I had a bad cold or something and didn't think much of it.

So I went to the doctor. Her name was Dr. Hussain (pronounced just like Saddam's last name--how strange). I hated her. She was rude and was the stupidest doctor I have ever encountered. Instead of running tests, she was just saying "I think it can be a throat infection or it could be this or be that." Lady, this is my health we're talking about, not a round of Jeopardy. She wrote me up a prescription and shoved it in my face. "Oh yeah doctor, I was wondering if there was any natural alternative for creams that I can use for my hands--they're very dry."

"Have you used cortisone?"
"Doctor, cortisone is not natural and I have been using it for years. It has not been a help to my hands."
"Well then go see a dermatologist!" She snapped.

I was not pleased and deep down I had a gut feeling that the medication was not going to work.

I took it for about a week and missed a dose Thursday night. Friday morning, I woke up shivering as if I had been lying naked in a bucket of ice water. IT was super warm in my room but I was freezing. My mother heard me, came into my room, saw me shivering uncontrollably, grabbed a wash cloth and put it on my forehead. She took my temperature and it was a deadly 105 F. My parents brought me to the hospital, the nurse took my temperature but made no comment. I asked her how it was and she goes "yeah you've definitely got a fever. We're going to call you in a few minutes so that you can lie down."

I thought "cool, I get to lie down and rest at the hospital for the rest of the day and go home later." Not the case at all. I stayed a miserable two weeks in the hospital. Even the janitor felt bad for me and asked me if I was ok. I guess he wasn't used to seeing 20 year old girls residing in a hospital. The first week, I had gotten tests done to see what I had. No doctor could figure it out. The second week, it got clear. I had pneumonia.

Story to be continued...

[karro]

I'm so happy you get back! I didnt stop to think about you those 2 past weeks, hoping everything will be fine for you. I knew it wasnt your time Chast

Doctors are so much incompetant by now. Its cause they not heal for the sake they are now like computers. They have no compassion. The story of my low back injury has similar points. No tests and the doctor said hernie discal go back home tomorrow and see after 2 years exactly its still there. That is why im also about natural way to heal myself now. That is the only thing that worked to present. I believe in self-healing. That is our dependence to everything that makes us that weak today.

For you hands, try acupuncture. If that didnt work for my lowback that at least worked for my hands in a delay of 2 days. Its like I never had and it was there since 2 months and the prescription cream didnt work for me also.

Its good that you can tell what did happen to you those past 2 weeks. You make me realise my incapacity of expressing my deep feelings. You see, myself after 2 years, its a story that I never been capable to tell anyone not even my close friends. I try to not remember this period for now. Its a wound inside I need to accept first but I try to forget it in vain. Maybe putting it down for once and share it would get rid of this back pain...eh fuck... why not? Its like crystal clear to me, I dont heal cause I need to get it out!

Thanks Chastity! I love you! Your story will have help one person out.

[fUx0r]

wow, chas. i'm glad your ordeal is now over and happy to have you back with us *hug*. doctors are such idiots sometimes. my mother has gone through shit like that with them. like one time they said she was diabetic, when in fact she was just anemic. i mean, how the fuck do trained professionals fuck up like that? anyways, i'm glad to hear you're OK.

[millencoolin2]

when I read the 1st line, the first thing that I think was pneumonia.... so the 1st "doctor" that you saw is a really saddam mixed with bush! but after all is good that you´re ok, and take care and you´ll be better in a while! all the community is with you!

[Car]

Hey Chastity! Welcome home!
Is great you're back again with us!

Im sorry to hear, you had to pass through the inefficiency of the doctors and a horrible disease like pneumonia, i really hope you're feeling fine now

Your friends here, are with you all the way

[androdaking]

I'm so glad that you are back now, Chas! hope you will be better and that you recover from the hospital "vacation".

(((((((

Chastity said:

I had pneumonia.

Pneumonia was our bands first bandname )))))))

[Chastity]

Thanks guys so much for your support. I'm still recovering so don't be surprised if I don't finish the story and if I'm not coming on the forum as often as I used to because I'm still kind of drugged.

Anyways...

The nurses (one of them was such a sweetheart) gave me an IV antibiotic to bring down the fever. I broke out in this hideous full body rash. I kept scratching. One nurse goes "it's all in your head." I was pissed. Why the hell would I decide to to go crazy on scratching? My sister luckily came to visit and saw the rash. "You might be allergic to pennicilin--I know I was. I remember breaking out into a rash just like you have right now. I couldn't stop scratching either." She called the sweet nurse and suggested that I could be allergic and the nurse looked at my entire rash with this look of horror on her face. "I'm going to go ask if I can give you some Benadryl and Atarax (sp?) because that rash is bad!" It also turns out that the meds that Dr. Hussain had given me had pennicilin in them. No wonder why my body didn't care that I was on those meds. Oh lovely.

Being attached to an IV was a very annoying thing. The IV made me go to the bathroom at least twice every hour. When you're weak, the last thing you want to do is constantly get up and walk all the way to the other end of the room. I also hated the bathrooms there (I'm a huge germaphobe). We also had to take sponge baths which I hated. Nurses constantly lied to me saying that there were no showers for patients. Of course, I knew they kept feeding me crap because why would there be no showers for patients? People don't expect patients to take sponge baths for their entire stay--which don't even clean you up completely. I begged the nurses to take a shower and they lied through their teeth to me.

Another thing, since I had such a high fever, the nurse had to keep taking blankets away from me even though I was freezing. I know he meant well but man, I was so desperate for warmth.

Doctors and nurses were also convinced I had an eating disorder. I couldn't stomach half the food because I had no appetite and if I exceeded a certain amount, I would feel nauseous. The docs and nurses would threaten me saying things such as "if you don't eat, they're going to put a tube in your throat." I wanted to scream at them and say "I DON'T HAVE AN EATING DISORDER--I'M JUST NOT HUNGRY!!!!!" (Trust me, when I am perfectly fine I have the hugest appetite--my friends are amazed at how much food I can put into myself considering I'm a very tiny girl).

I was also very drugged during my stay. It felt as if every few hours, hospital staff would wake me up and give me a cocktail of drugs. There was one point where I thought I was going to throw up. Also seeing a rainbow of multicolored drugs didn't help the nausea one bit. I urged the nurses to get crackers before I was going to hurl (I had read somewhere that pregnant women should keep soda crackers nearby to curb the nausea)since I knew no docs were in and that the nurses would refuse my request for Gravol. I ate the crackers and surprisingly they worked.

According to some of the hospital staff, my sisters and my parents, I had hallucinations. "You were gone!" One doctor recounted while laughing. These were some of my hallucintations (not according to me):

-As I was using this mouthwash and spat into the container, I yelled out angrily "What are these two birds doing here?!" while looking at the mouthwash in the container.

-"My knees are sleepy. I have to rest."

-"Yeah, they gave me french toast at the other hospital--I mean the hotel! I took one bite out of it. I didn't eat the rest of it."

-I vaguely remember arguing with one of the nurses. I don't remember the entire argument though--of course, other people did.

"Chastity, go back to bed." A nurse was telling me.

"I HAVE TO GO USE THE PHONE!"

"Shhhhhhh."

"I NEED TO GO USE THE PHONE! I HAVE TO CALL PEOPLE!"

In my head, I thought I was close to home or at home.

"I HAVE TO GO UPSTAIRS TO USE THE PHONE! ITS PURPLE!"

Apparently at this point, I was ready to head out the door.

"Where are you going?" The nurse asked.

"I have to go use the phone in the parking lot."

"Chastity, nobody goes out in the parking lot at midnight in this weather, in their gown and IV to go use the phone."

"WELL I DID!"

"Chastity, you are confused. Please go back to bed."

Somehow I managed to listen to the nurse after being a stubborn bitch towards her. If I can remember which nurse this was exactly, I would go back and apologize to her. I know I was stoned out of my mind but still she deserves an apology.

-Another hallucination I had was when I was staying in a room and my sister came to visit and I said "hey, did I just see a boxer? I think I did."

-"Hey look at those men on stage! Why are they wearing dresses?! They don't even look good!"


This was the funnier part of my stay. My hallucinations were quite popular with the story telling and apparently everyone had a really good laugh.


The first week, I was weak and drugged but still able to function slightly. The second week, I was weak and my body was shutting down.

I was at least content that I got to stay in my own room. I hated sharing rooms with sick people (I have this phobia of vomit and I was petrified that someone was going to puke). I hated hearing the coughs of people who were desperate to breathe (kids, if you want to quit smoking, hang out in a hospital room!) and I just hated hearing the noises. Eespecially the sweet nurse (she was young and hot) who socialized with the cute male nurses while everyone tried to sleep. I loved those nurses though because they made the Geriatric Ward fun (the Geriatric Ward is for old people--I don't understand why they put me there).

So I stayed in this room by myself. I was happy. The rest of me wasn't . The day they put me there, I was nearly in tears was putting all these needles in my arm and the same string they use for stitches. The cute blond nurse (also a really nice girl) was saying "you're doing great" as the doctor was putting me through this 5 minute torture.

I thought "cool, I'm in the Intensive Care. I'm going to recover!" Oh my goodness. You know when they say "you have to get worse before you can get better?" That's exactly what happened.

A few days there, my body became amazingly weak. It came to a point where I had to wear diapers because I couldn't even get out of bed to use the portable toilet which was a foot away from my bed.

I remember lying in bed, I had some sort of vision/dream/hallucination and I saw my uncle who passed away 7 years ago (actually today is his death anniversary). He begged me to go back to Earth and that it wasn't my time to go. I remember him repeating it over and over. "Go back, go back go back! Chastity, you're not supposed to be here. It's not your time!" I'm convinced I did die for a minute (I'll tell you the story about the drawing later one). My body was shutting down. I remember waking up at one point to see my IV replaced with a bag of blood. Me, blood transfusion?? Apparently, I had two transfusions. Whoever's blood that was, I am so thankful it saved my life. I also had a tube of oxygen up my nose for half my stay.

I thought "I am 20 years old. I am supposed to be out partying, not stuck in a hospital and practically living like a 95 year old woman." I normally don't feel sorry for myself but tears were welling up in my eyes. I did not want to cry knowing it would place more stress on my body.

After a few days in the Intensive Care, I was brought over to Recovery. I was so happy that my fever had finally gone down, my x rays were clearing up and doctors were finally uttering the words "would you like to go home tomorrow?". I was able to finally walk around even though I was super dizzy.

I finally got to leave. I came home and I was walking around as if I was on my third shot of tequila. Home looked slightly familiar but new at the same time. Leaving the hospital was the weirdest thing to me. For two weeks I had been isolated from the world and to finally see it again was so strange.

Apparently Bush had come to Montreal and Ottawa. If I were well I would've gone and protested his ass. As for Tenzin, I am worried as hell for him. A lot of protests and things were going on for him the second week I was in the hospital. I guess it's all happening for a reason...

[Acetroubleshooter]

oh Chas, you have no idea how much i missed you... as soon as i heard about your stay in the hospital i was so worried
i couldnt think of anything else