Eye Scare Easily

I've been having some problems with my eyes lately, especially the right one. A few weeks ago I started noticing something was wrong, when the contact lense in my right eye would tear and the entire inner corner would go red and ache. I thought it was just a problem with my contact lenses, so I chucked them and used a new pair (they're monthly disposables). I trimmed my bangs too, thinking it was some strands of hair poking at my eye that might have caused the discomfort. It seemed to work out fine for a while, until a few days ago when the vision in my right eye started going blurry at times.

I thought my astigmatisme had increased and I might need new glasses, so yesterday my dad brought me to the optometrist. My eyes were checked, and apparently there was nothing wrong with my glasses. The optometrist said my right eye looked swollen, but there was nothing he could do and he recommended an ophthalmologist.

We went to see the ophthalmologist right away, and after what seemed like the longest time (and a string of eye checks that included dilating my pupils), the diagnosis was this: there was some 'erosion' (this was the exact term the ophthalmologist used) on the surface of my eyes, i.e. small scratches on the corneas, most probably caused from the contact lenses. He said I shouldn't use my contact lenses for at least a month, and the surface of my eyes would 'smooth out' in time.

Phew. What a relief.

I'm just happy my eyes will heal.

After the initial scare, I had a lot of fun with the effects of what I like to call the 'magic eye drops'. These eye drops made my pupils dilate, and they stayed that way for a few hours. Our pupils usually dilate in darker situations to let more light in, and the size of our pupils adjust according to the amount of light available. Imagine forcing your pupils to stay that wide open for that many hours. It felt like I was high, the whole world seemed super bright and sharp, like the high definition switch had been flipped 'on' or something. I had a good time snapping pictures of my eyes while they were like that.

I even mentioned to my dad how they would look just like Edward Cullen's if they were gold-rimmed.

Cheers, people!

What is wrong with me?

I fell sick. Again. In the past one week, I've gotten sick twice, first with a really bad headache plus vomiting, and then five days later with the flu. This is probably the most times I've fallen sick in a week. I spent the past four days or so eating porridge and eggs. Saturday and Sunday were spent at home, either sleeping or passed out in front of the telly. What is wrong with me? Why do I get sick so often?

Actually, no need to tell me. I already know the answer.

But now I'm back up on my feet again. It's time to put the brain to work. Time to get the fingers typing. Time to get all my assignments and work completed. On the other hand, maybe not. I'm happy being lazy. Why do anything today if you can push it off to tomorrow?

So there. Now you know why I haven't been blogging. Or going online. Or even switching on my laptop for that matter. Call it health issues if you want. But still, it's good to be back.

Cheers!

Flu!

I've been very sick this week. I started feeling really lethargic last week, but I thought it was just the usual me, until my dad told me that I had the flu. But that was just that, I just went around feeling really tired and lazy. And then on Sunday, I woke up from my afternoon nap and felt different. Something didn't feel right. For one, my nose was feeling really itchy and sneezy-like, and my eyes were somewhat watery. Then there was the strange headache. But I went out anyway, and had dinner with some friends and ended up at tHe Spring. It was there, while sitting at one of the tables at Secret Recipe downing my slice of New York Cheese Cake, that I started feeling really cold. By the time my dad came to pick me up from triSh and Viv's house, we had to make a stop at the nearest 7-Eleven to pick up some Panadol Soluble. That very night, my throat started feeling scratchy.

I skipped class on Monday morning. I remember waking up in a daze and stumbling around, taking Panadol after Panadol. And to make matters worse, I had to sit for an exam that night. I skipped class on Tuesday too. I would have stayed at home this morning too, if not for this other exam I had. And tomorrow, I really don't feel like going, I'm still ill, but for the sake of an assignment, yeah I'll drag/drive my way up to Unimas. Maybe I'll just skip the Friday class. Oooohhh... But then there's the exam on Saturday, and the few assignments that are due next week, and oh yes don't forget the exam on Monday too.

It's just not the best time to get sick.

Blergh!

So last night started out great. I spent my evening watching this new Korean drama on tv2 called Spring Waltz, and then continued that with Wars of In-Laws. Then I switched stations, from the TV to the Internet, and I spent more or less the entire night doing my usual round: Facebook, Friendster, Multiply, my email account, Yahoo! and MSN messengers, and of course, Youtube (strictly for Bleach).

And then it hit me.

At about 2 in the morning, my stomache started to burn. It felt like acid was being poured into my intestines. Okay, so that's apparently what gastric is. Yes, I had gastric, or so I thought. So I did nothing, thinking it'll go away on its own. It didn't. I switched on the TV, watched some Malaysian Mandarin drama, and ate a bun, thinking maybe that would help alleviate my gastric. It didn't. So about 5 minutes after wolloping off the bun, I took 2 Actal tablets. It supposedly helps to relieve gastric, heartburn, blah blah blah. Instead of feeling better, I felt worse. I started feeling faint. And then the thought struck me. I wasn't suffering from gastric...

It was food poisoning!

This might sound strange, but I actually consider myself an expert on food poisoning. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I go around town poisoning people with my food. No. When I claim expertise on food poisoning, it's because I've personally suffered more than enough food poisonings to recognise the sign and symptoms of it. In fact, I've gotten so used to food poisoning that I can usually recognise it within a few minutes of eating the 'poisoned' food. So last night was really a shocker for me. I had food poisoning like, 8 hours after dinner! That's why I didn't recognise it as food poisoning.

And that's why I ended up vomiting the contents of my dinner into the toilet bowl at 2.30 a.m. I ended up feeling like I was gonna drop down in a dead faint at any moment. Ended up going to sleep at 3 a.m., curled up like some injured animal about to puke out its own innards.

But yes, I'm fine now. After 11 hours of sleep, fine as any food poisoning survivor can be. And now I've learnt my lesson:

My stomache takes 8 hours to process whatever food I've eaten, good or bad.

Interesting...

And cheers!

Oooops, I did it again...

Guess what? Remember my ear? Well, it happened again. It got blocked up, and I had to see the ENT specialist again this afternoon. Sigh. Bye bye to money... But it was well worth it. My hearing is precious! I don't know why it keeps happening to me, this ear blocked business. Sigh. It's not even been half a year and this is the second time I've had to have my ears professionally cleaned out. I think I've really got to learn to leave my ears alone. Hopefully that'll save some moolah.

"And now, the latest update..."

Yeah, I know it's been a relatively long time since I last blogged, and I know I've sorta left you all hanging as to the situation of my ear, but lemme explain myself: I just haven't had the time - and the energy - to come online... And yeah, of course the fact that my connection was playing a game of hide-and-seek with me also contributed lots to the state of blogless-ness. Yeah. That said and done, let me update you on what's been going on in my life the past week or so:

Last Saturday, I finally decided enough was enough, I couldn't stand not being able to hear anything in my right ear, so I finally gathered up the courage and dragged my buddy Trish along with me to an ENT specialist. Well, it didn't really help that it was literally pouring rain down like buckets, and that I had to drive like 7 rounds and 30 minutes around a whole area of buildings only to find out at the end that the specialist I'd originally wanted to go to had packed up and moved to an entirely different area, but yes, we finally made it to another ENT specialist, this one situated at the Timberland Medical Centre zone, but yes, in short (yeah right, just check out how long this sentence is already) I managed to see the ENT specialist, he managed to clear up my right ear (yes! I can really hear now!), and I managed to pay up 70 bucks and there you have it... An extraordinarily long sentence, and very good hearing now! Yippee!

This week has been another whirlwind of assignments and catching up on everything I'd missed last week being sick. Yes, I've gotten most of my photostated notes, and yes, I think I'm not doing such a bad job at understanding what's been going on... Things really do seem to be looking up! I mean, the midterm holidays are just next week, and yes I know we've got all this horrible midterm exams to do first and all, but you know what? Life is certainly looking up! I mean, even this downloading program that I use (which shall, for obvious or not-so-obvious reasons remain nameless here) is beginning to get its functioning operability up and running again! Previously it was total blanks in the field of connections, but now at least it doesn't say "Waiting for stable connections" any longer... Now it just says what it used to say before: "Awaiting sources"! Yippee!

And I guess that's it from me this time... I've got a tonne of assignments to research, and two midterm exams next week! It's time to get down to the crunch, people!

Cheers!

Still sick...

I woke up this morning (I decided not to go to university after all - didn't really feel in the mood for a relapse of any kind) feeling better, as in no detectable fever, able to walk faster and overall feeling much stronger. Even managed to send some joke sms-es to Trish. But my ear is still the same blocked way it is. Sigh. It really is driving me to the edge of my patience. But I'm still relatively alright. Yes, my humorous ways and laughing skills have kinda rolled downhill, but I'm still able to watch television, my appetite is still pretty much unaffected, and the biggest proof - I'm still blogging, aren't I? Here's to me having my complete ear recovery!

Sick

Am very sick. Didn't go to uni today. Sore throat. Head ache. Eyes watery. Joints hurting. Ear still not hearing anything. Nose blocked. Feverish. Sigh. Not sure if I should go to uni tomorrow.

And the doctor says...

... that there is no wax stuck in my ear.

I nearly fell off my chair when he gave his diagnosis. I almost wanted to shout "What d'you mean there's no wax stuck in my ear? My ear's blocked! I can't hear in my right ear!" but I didn't, because if I had, the nurses would probably have called their police hotline (all clinics have a direct phone link to the nearest police station) and the blue-uniformed men would have come to drag me away to a night's complimentary stay at the station. So yeah, I didn't shout. What I did instead, was ask really nicely and politely: "Then why can't I hear?"

The doctor said something about being able to see my ear drums, and he said it was kinda red and inflammed, which is why I can't hear clearly. Or something like that. He had his whatchamacallit face mask over his mouth and he sounded kinda muffled, what with my blocked ear and his face mask and all. Well, to cut a long story short, he prescribed me 2 different kinds of antibiotics and said I'd probably have my hearing back to normal in a few days or something like that. I told you he sounded kinda muffled.

So here's hoping to back-to-perfection hearing in a coupla days.

Cheers.

P.S. Just kidding about the direct phone link to the police station. But do tell me if it really is true, okay? End of P.S.

P.P.S. whatchamacallit = what you may call it End of P.P.S.

My ear!

This is how it happened:


Saturday, 20th January. '2007: It all started with the sudden urge to clean my room. Yes, it's true, I actually wanted to clean my room. So I started cleaning. I'd actually started the cleaning process a few days back (i.e. earlier on in the week), but the incident took place on this day. Take note of the time, dear people: I resumed the process of cleaning my room at approximately 9 pm. So I cleaned. I cleared all the extra-old newspapers from my room, and dumped them all into a basket. Then I rearranged all my books, making sure they all stacked up nicely in my brown little bookshelf. Then I moved on to cleaning the other shelf, the one where I put my LOTR popcorn paperbox memorabilia, the one where I put all my little toys and stuff.

That's when I found it.

There weren't that many left in the plastic wrapping they came in - just 4 or 5 little cotton buds. This was approximately 10 pm. 10 seconds later, my right ear was blocked. There was no pain, nothing. That's right. I had somehow managed to block my right ear, and I couldn't really hear anything - just a blur, muffled non-sound.

At 10.05 pm, I rushed downstairs and announced that it had happened. 10 minutes later, I had 10 drops of Soluwax in my right ear. The following is the instructions written on the label of the bottle: "With the head tilted, fill the affected ear with sufficient Soluwax Ear Drops (approx. 10 drops) for two consecutive nights using the dropper. Remain in this position for 4 to 5 minutes. The ear wax should then be easily removed by normal cleansing."

20 minutes later, my ear was still blocked. I went to sleep, feeling rather amused.


Sunday, 21st January. '2007: Last night, the temperature was so cold that the air-con unit started making some really strange, robot-about-to-malfunction sounds. I did not hear it. Morning came, and my alarm clock went off. I almost didn't hear it. I went to church and played bass with half of my hearing gone. I joked with some friends about my temporary one-sided hearing loss. They laughed, I laughed too. They laughed some more, I laughed some more too. That evening was another round of ear-dropping. The time was approximately 7.30 pm when I went to sleep, ear still blocked and feeling rather worried.


Monday, 22nd January. '2007: The first class of the day started at 8 am today. It was raining quite heavily. My hearing seems to have improved - if I poke my right ear and release it quickly enough, I can have almost back-to-normal clear hearing in my right ear... For about 3 seconds. Then it's back to the muffled sound. I told anyone who would listen about it. They smiled sympathetically. I tell them, so that they know the reason behind my tilting my left ear towards them everytime they speak. I tell them, so that they know why I go "Huh?" and "Can you say that again please?" in response to everytime they open their mouths. They laugh, I laugh too. My laugh isn't as loud as it was yesterday. Neither is my smile as big. I reached home at approximately 2 pm. Before going to sleep, I ear-drop some more Soluwax into my ear. I fall asleep, thinking that when I awake, my ear will be back to its more-than-perfect hearing.

Man, was I totally wrong. It's worse than ever now. When I woke up just now at approximately 6.20 pm, I didn't even know it was raining... Heavily. Why? Because with my right ear blocked and my left ear pressed into my pillow, I couldn't hear a single thing. At about 7.30 pm, I had another session of ear drops. I'll be going to the ENT specialist soon. I hope it'll be real soon, 'cause I don't think I can take it any longer, this total void of any sound in my right ear. The last time anything like this happened was way back at the start of my freshman year. The ENT specialist had to insert some mechanical device into my ear to unblock it.


It is almost 12 midnight now. I will be going to sleep real soon, and I will be feeling really worried, and panicky. And a tad bit frightened. I must remember not to use cotton buds after this. And you all must remember to talk to my left ear tomorrow, 'cause I will not be able to hear you in my right.

Sigh.

What is fatigue?

Exhaustion.
Tired.
I wanna pengsan.
Sleepy.
Body aching.
Circles under my eyes.
Leg cramps.
Sore throat.
Headache.
Muscles twitching.
Wanna drop dead on the floor.
Sleep.
Really need sleep.
But cannot sleep.
Crick in my neck.
Stomache ache.
Pain.
Dizzy.
Dazed.
Delusional.

What is fatigue?

Ask me.

Attack Of The Zits

Ahem.

What is a zit? According to the Compact Oxford English Dictionary, which you can use online here, a zit is "a spot on the skin, whereas Wikipedia defines a zit as a "pimple". The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - check it out here - defines it as "a temporary small raised spot on the skin". Zits. Also goes by the less familiar but equally irritating term of "acne".

So, why am I rattling on and on and on and on about the definitions of zits? Because I am currently facing a horrible predicament of being suddenly attacked - yes, attacked! - by an entire avalanche of zits! Big, swollen ones, with yellow pus! Argh! How I dislike them. I wish I could just reach out my fingers and just squish them off my face! Or get a really sharp chopping knife and scrape them off! Or get metal toothpicks and poke poke poke poke!

Ahem. I'm sure some of you are puking by now, or at least near-puking. I can't help it, y'know. I get awfully depressed at the sight of them pimples. My heart literally breaks when I look into the mirror these days. I'm really very sad. Especially seeing how one year ago I literally had almost close to no zits. I remember telling a really close friend that I could actually wash my face with just plain soap and everything would still be clear. And now? Urgh. Ever since entering uni... Sigh. It really does break my little heart.

Sometimes I think I could really cry.