Survey Mania!

2005-10-21 6:07 p.m.

Andrew is having a Survey Contest this weekend so I have taken up the challenge. I invite you to take Kungfukitten's Mass Media and Popular Culture Survey. It's only ten questions long. You must be logged into Diaryland in order to take it. Diaryland accounts are free and allow you to leave comments on all diaries. My comments are currently restricted to diaryland members due to the huge amount of comment spam I've been getting. I'll try opening them up to the public next week. In the meanwhile, anyone can sign the guestbook. If you create a survey, leave me a note and I'll come fill it out.

I have the X-rays of a porn star.

2005-10-20 8:58 p.m.

I spent another lovely afternoon at the hospital. I met with the pulmonologist who spent over an hour with me. I can't tell you how nice it was to have someone on my side who believed that all the wacky syptoms and conditions I have are real. He asked tons of questions and nodded a lot when I answered. He also told me that I absolutely do not have lymphoma which has been a huge fear looming in the back of my mind. I have, 100%, no doubt about it, sarcoidosis. He took me into his office and showed me my chest x-rays compared to the ones I had done a couple of years ago for pleurisy.

Holy mammary glands Batman. I didn't think that breast tissue showed up in x-rays but my chest x-rays were virtually pornographic. I think I turned red while he was showing me my enlarged lymph nodes. I have the x-rays of a porn star. I kept wanting to put my hands over the fleshy swells to hide my shame. And, Oh yeah, did I mention my doctor was young and good looking? (But married, checked that ring finger immediately)

I was then sent for more bloodwork. I told the Doc that I had previously had every blood test known to mankind. When he looked them up on the computer he said before he could censor himself "Holy shit, you were right!" He did however, find a few tests that I hadn't done yet like liver function tests and calcium levels. With all these blood tests I'm probably going to end up with scarred and collapsed veins like a heroine junkie.

I was also required to get another EKG done. While I was in the waiting room at the imaging department it was a woman that came to get me. "Oh. My. God!" I squealed. "A woman is going to give me my EKG!" She was fast, discreet and there was no unnecessary manhandling of my left breast. However, my EKG continues to show some LVF abnormalities (increased left ventricular function?). How important that is, I don't know. I'm not a doctor, I just play one at work.

Next I have to see a rheumatologist (an actual physician this time and not a NP) for a thorough exam and a dermatologist needs to cut off one of my leg spots. I also have to get a CT scan of lungs. Once all that is done we'll decide how fucked up I am and if I need to be put on steroids or one of the chemotherapy agents. I'm cool with not starting something right now. I'm enjoying my sleep too much to give it up, especially when I can't stay up all night and read.

On a happier note, I get to work the door and the video screens for a Comedy Sportz show this weekend. I also signed up to play with the pros on the Sunday before Halloween. I'm not sure if they'll pull my name, but that would be kind of cool. I'm sure it would wipe me out but it's only a couple of hours and I can spend all of Monday in bed if I have to. So there.

Book review.

2005-10-18 5:11 p.m.

I haven�t updated in the last couple of days because my blog entries would have looked something like this: woke up at 7:00am, took some medication, tried to read one page in my new book, fell asleep, got up at noon, choked down some soup, went back to bed, got up at six, watched Tivo, went to bed. Rinse. Repeat.

I can however, post a book review: *A-hem* Wideacre by Philippa Gregory has got to be the most fucked up book I have ever read. With that said, it is very engaging and she does an excellent job of pulling you into the world of 18th century landowner/tenant relationships. The plot is something like this: daughter conspires with gypsy boy to kill father, daughter seduces brother (yes, you read that correctly), daughter cuts off gypsy boy�s legs in a man trap, daughter nearly scares mother to death buy having sex with her brother in the dining room, daughter proceeds to kill mother with laudanum overdose, daughter has two children with her brother, marries a local doctor, turns husband into an alcoholic, has him committed, steals his inheritance and ends up ruining the land she loved so much. I won�t tell you how the book ends just in case you read it, but I can say I didn�t find the ending very satisfying.

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