I was really looking forward to the weekend that just passed because it was the first weekend of many weekends that I can finally sleep in and just spend time alone. Also, Ashlyn was in town so we could finally catch up on Friday night!
We were planning to go for drinks after dinner but my voice was starting to sound really crook so we went back to my place to check out the tiny apartment instead. Chit chat a bit until I started to feel really off and the girl and her fiance took off after a lovely evening. (By the way, both of them are total condensed milk toast converts too! Woohoo! World domination!)
Just then Martina called and asked whether he could crash at my place over the weekend and with my approval, went ahead to book himself a whirlwind trip to Hong Kong!
By the time I got to chat to Matt, my voice was really croaking and I was really hoping it wouldn’t come to that. I first got a bit of a scratchy throat last Wednesday and I was swallowing raw garlic by the cloves, hoping it wouldn’t develop into a sore throat.
I was paranoid as well, having returned from Melbourne just six days earlier and was reading about how quickly the number of H1N1 cases in Melbourne rose over just a few days. But I kept telling myself that it’s been 6 days and all I have is a scratchy throat!
Then Debs told me about the 18-year-old Singaporean (the 13th H1N1 case in Singapore) on the Emirates flight, which was the same as mine, except I came back three days earlier than him. Phew!
Next day was the same scratchy throat and I forced more garlic down. By Friday, I was sounding weird and after Ashlyn left, I knew I was gonna lose my voice the next day.
True enough! I could only manage whispers and on Sat morning, I went to the doc in my neighbourhood for the first time and told her specifically I was allergic to penicillin and saw her noted that down. After I was issued the meds, I took them straight away, having had breakie to prepare my stomach for the meds. I really wanted to get better and didn’t wanna waste any time.
After that, I could still walk to HMV to browse DVDs for a long time. Then went for a grocery run, picked up my laundry, headed home to cook and was sitting down for my lunch when my eyes started to itch really bad. I took a look at the mirror and saw a few mossie bites looking bumps so I thought I got bitten by the summer mossies and continued eating, trying to ignore the itch.
After 5 minutes, couldn’t take it anymore and scratched my eyes and looked at them again in the mirror. My thought “UGH, allergy reaction!” I had this before years ago and it was cos I had antibiotics with penicillin in it. I called Matt and was whining and he had to beg me to go to the hospital. I really didn’t wanna go cos I was looking like a freak by then and he kept bugging me, telling me how dangerous it was.
I dragged myself out of the house and tried desperately to get a cab, trying to look on the ground as I walked. I swear, anyone who saw me then would be seriously freaked out. I felt real lousy about myself – what if my face stayed permanently like that!?!?
Ok, here’s a pic of me taken at the least awful looking angle:
And this shot was actually taken after I had a jab so the swell had came down. I seriously looked like I was just beaten up, wasn’t I! Maybe I should keep those awful pics and pretend to use them against Matt, claiming he beat me up if he doesn’t let me have my way in future…
I whispered the hospital’s name to the cabby and thank god he understood me. I went to the counter and after dissecting what I was saying, the nurse immediately brought me to a bed and asked me to lie down. She then told me the doc would come to me and was fussing over me. Is allergy reaction really such a big deal???
I was honestly feeling ok. Just had a fugly swollen face and no voice but other than that, I felt normal. No cold, no fever.
Doc came and then nurse gave me a jab on my ass. Ouch! I always thought I’m pretty good with needles but I haven’t got a jab for a while so I jumped whenever the nurse touched me. Embarrassing!
Immediately after, I felt drowsy and nurse told me to lie there until I was ready to go. She told me if I felt breathless (which I had before after a jab years ago and I really thought I was gonna die so I was pretty hesitant to take this jab), I must tell her and she would have to check me into the hospital for an overnight observation. And I was like “Mmmm… ok… good night….” and proceeded to fall in and out of sleep.
When I awoke, I was still drowsy like hell but I really wanted to get out of the hospital so I insisted I was ok and tried to hire a cab on the streets. That was when I really felt the dizziness coming over. I thought I was gonna pass out when I saw a cab. The chill inside the cab made me feel much better and I knocked out once I got home.
Got up two hours later to tidy the house for Martina’s arrival but face was still swollen and voice was still gone. And still drowsy as hell.
It felt good that I could be independent and did all these for myself but strangely, the experience had left me feeling extremely isolated. It really struck me that I was really on my own. And weirdly, it made me feel distant from the people that I love… I don’t know why I felt that way but I did and I don’t like it…
It was actually quite nice to have Martina around (even though I only see him at night. That boy is how haps in HK, has pals and all.) but he’s leaving tomorrow! That boy really shopped up a storm in HK. It’s comforting to see someone else splurging more than I do – hur hur hur.
Ok, off to have my last dosage of anti-inflammatory meds. The doc at the hospital refused to give me a replacement of antibiotics but I’m nearly at the end of this meds and my throat’s still not completely healed and my voice has yet to resume to normal. We’ll see tomorrow… :(
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his body is amazing O.O and his smile cute!”
