Friday, December 12, 2003

This week I've had pneumonia. I had wanted a week out of the office, but I hadn't exactly had this in mind. All day Monday and Tuesday morning, I wasn't really sure what it was, so I just hung around the house, which always drives me completely insane. I spend time on the balcony watching cars, or on the internet trying to connect with people "out there". I read the news more than usual, watch infotainment (NO tabloid stuff--I will only stoop so low), go outside for brief binges of sunlight.
Tuesday afternoon, I saw Dr. Ogden. He's good for the young professional patient--quick to the task, quick with his diagnoses, professional with his answers. I had a couple of embarassing questions to ask, but he answered without missing a beat. It's the sort of thing we're looking for with automated service.
Anyway, despite all that, I ended up in at the ER the next day, watching the personnel mill about like ants, each knowing exactly what they were doing, yet still running into walls every once in a while. I saw a student nurse who goes to the university at which I work; I smiled, and she smiled back, as if in partial recognition. I'm sure I looked quite different when my shirt and tie were traded for the "back to the wind" hospital dress/shirt/apron thing. When I got her attention and told her I worked in the financial aid office, her smile dissipated. It's nice to know our work makes an impression.
The ladies in the "room" across from me were talking about how they were going to redesign Howard Stern's logo and it occured to me how that might have sounded impressive if I wasn't drugged up on Vicadine and wondering if I'd be able to leave the hospital. So many things seem so trivial when you're faced with the fragility of your own health. It would be nice to gain some kind of solid perspective that balanced the variances.
So, to end a lengthy, but hopefully not pointless, post, I'm at home watching "James Earl Jones" dance on a Verizon commercial (that's so not him!) and getting flashbacks of token afros and poor quality film from KDOC TV. That's where in the universe I am right now. Send me a postcard or something.

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