jenepel

Sorry for non-response on recent entries, flist, for I have vanished under a pile of tax returns. Look for me (hopefully) after April 15th when I shall attempt to become sane again. Apparently it has become so bad that I've actually made myself sick. This morning (sorry for the TMI) I felt nauseated the entire ride, and about half-way through actually stumbled off at a random stop and threw up on the platform. (This was pretty much completely mortifying.) Cue worried people (a lady gave me water and a man fetched an attendant) and then sitting in the station room for a half hour while they made sure I was okay. That was good, but what was ill-advised was the cup of tea I drank while there. It sounded so good at the time! And you know how you feel much better right after you throw up? Well, I called my boss, he said okay but when will you be here? so I hopped back on the tube and went on in. I still had about 30 mins to go on the ride, and it was seriously rough feeling.

Half an hour into work I threw up again - goodbye tea and a few crackers that I had managed to get down. By then it was agreed that I could go home despite the deadline, but I admit I am now completely reluctant to get back on the tube. I seriously don't think I can face the hour long ride without throwing up again. I'm drinking Ginger Ale, which Isla nicely got for me, and frankly having a really hard time concentrating on anything tax related, thus this entry. I want to be in my bed, but my bed is so far away!

Speaking of my bed (like that segue?) I had a weird dream last night. It was one of my just hanging out with celebrities as if I know them dreams (for previous examples see Adam Lambert & David Tennant - I'm too lazy to link those properly) and this time it was Kris & Katy Allen. We were at some kind of benefit, although who knows why I would have been there (!) and seated at the same table, just chatting. From what I remember they were really nice and friendly, and we talked almost the whole time about music and what we liked and what his influences were and stuff. I don't know if he was famous in the dream, because I don't remember feeling star struck, but he was definitely a musician. Maybe I was famous too and that was why? :) Even weirder, I actually had another Kris Allen dream just a few days ago. We were at a concert or a show or something and he gave me his seat because I couldn't see over his head. Meet Jenn, the only person shorter than Kris! I don't know where Katy was in that one though.

So yeah, I have a strange brain. And I feel sick. UGH. Plus, to make it worse, I have to meet with one of my freelance clients after work tonight. They were even going to feed me dinner (an older couple, really sweet) but I don't think that part is happening if I still feel like I do now. I can't skip it though, the 15th is only two days away and they owe!

ETA: Just threw up for the third time (this is so embarrassing at work!) and am going home in a taxi. Just gave in, it's not worth it. Not sure what to do about appt tonight though, maybe I can push it until tomorrow and skip bookclub?? That sucks.

Seriously people, the week I have had! And you know, it’s not really to be complaining, because everything seems to be working out okay thus far, and I’m really terribly thankful for that. But considering I spent the whole week at home, and only worked two days, it has been just incredibly stressful.

I just checked my last entry to see what kind of info I wrote about the surgery and realised I was all like “oh, maybe I’ll stay overnight Sat – we’ll see”. HA! And then I stayed Sat-Thurs morning. Oh how little I knew.

So anyway, my dad had surgery for tongue cancer in three parts – a chunk of his tongue out, a chunk of his leg (including muscle and a freaking artery) out to replace the tongue, and his lymph nodes. It was the latter that turned out to be the biggest problem, since he is having some kind of drainage issues (his body kept producing lymph but it has nowhere to go?) and an air bubble (yeah IDK) that they had to push out. So when I got there last Saturday they were saying he should get out by Monday, so (for various reasons) I decided to stay until then. But Mon turned into Tues, turned into Wed, and now they’re saying it may be NEXT Mon, so who knows.

Things that went wrong while I was there:
1 – Mom can’t drive at night b/c she had cataract surgery a few weeks ago. She didn’t mention this to me at first, but once I knew it was the main reason I decided to stay. Going to work at least in the AM and then to the hospital but having to leave before dark (in the UK, in March) is difficult.
2 – I forgot my charger (well didn’t bring it since it was just going to be a day), so my phone died
3 - we have plumbers working in the upstairs bathroom, and they did something with the electrics, which connect to the room next door, which contains the computer and modem. Thus no internet. I was kind of stealing wi-fi from someone around us, but it was very temperamental and only on during certain hours in the evening (who turns their modem ON AN OFF? I guess someone who doesn't know enough to put a password on?)
4 - our last car broke down (we have a few but every one seems to have at least one issue right now) leaving us stranded on the side of the road. We called my mom’s friend and the AA, but it was no go. We called around for rentals and no one had any cars free (!!) although we did end up getting one on the second day, thank goodness.
5 – I realised on Wed when I checked my email that friends of one of my friends in Japan were coming to stay and arriving on Thursday. I had agreed to it ages ago – I hadn’t met them but we do have spare couches, so whatever. Anyway I had to sort out meeting up with them on Thurs after work. Thank goodness I checked though.
6 – Addenbrookes tightened the visiting hours b/c of some vomiting virus (!) so when I went by there Thurs on my way to work (Cambridge is where I change trains) they wouldn’t let me in the ward. Instead dad and I stood at the door so he could give me a quick update. Ridiculous!

On the bright side, I came home to a lovely home cooked Mexican meal courtesy of the flatmates, as well as margaritas! Yum. And dad is doing alright, which is the important thing. I’m now off back to Cambridge to meet mom at Addenbrookes...

I MET MILO!! Seriously, I met him on Friday! I'm still totally excited and squeeing - such a fangirl. I usually try to avoid being this giddy over someone, but I'm pretty ridiculous when it comes to Milo.

( Insane detail )

I stayed til 2:00 and then I had to rush back to go to work. It was quite a letdown after all that excitement! And then, to top it all off, after work I had to go to A&E (Accident and Emergency, or to you stateside people - the ER). Long story short, I've been having chest pains this week and refusing to go to the doctor. People at work have been worried - well, they are all older than me and they (I think) baby me a bit. So I finally agreed I would go Friday night. It took like three hours. They did an EKG and evidently there was something on there that was wrong, so they wanted to do more. They took blood (from both a vein and an artery), urine, and did a chest x-ray. Then they did another EKG, and that one was clean. The bottom line was that they couldn't find anything wrong. (THAT'S why I don't go to the doctor.) So he just gave me Codeine for the pain and told me to come back if it was still bothering me, got worse, etc. Also, now I have these huge bruises in the two places they took blood - I look like a druggie. The great thing is that all I had to pay for was the medicine. God bless the NHS. I bet that would have cost thousands in the US. Or at least I get that impression from TV shows.

They have just added Milo and Adrian to the ComicCon lineup. I was planning to go tomorrow anyway, but now I'm even more excited. Maybe I'll see them again - I guess it depends what the setup is.