just to get it all
just to get it all out, what’s in my head
So, last night I had to make an unexpected trip to the ER. About six weeks ago, I had a UTI that got so bad I went to the emergency room for the first time. They gave me some drugs, I got better. A week later, I lost my insurance. Almost immediately afterward, the UTI came back. So, having no insurance and being rather broke, I tried to self-medicate. Drank a lot of water, took cranberry extract, etc etc.
So, on Saturday night at Pearl strike, I thought I had pulled something in my back. Chris Dietz and Tim Gouran were trying to take the speaker I was carrying, and I was saying ‘No, I’m fine, I’m not a wimpy girl, I can take it.’ Awhile later, I started having back pain, which I attributed to the fact that I was an idiot for trying to show off. So, anyway. That was Saturday.
By Wednesday, the back pain had gotten SIGNIFICANTLY worse, and finally I called a nurse at Swedish to ask what I should do. Her exact response:
“I’m sorry, sweetie. When someone has a UTI and they start feeling it in their back, we urge them to get into the emergency room within FOUR HOURS. How long did you say you’ve been having this pain?”
So, insurance or no insurance, off we went to the ER. By the time I got there, it was so bad I could hardly walk. And, of course, because of all this I had started hyperventilating, and nearly passed out in the waiting room. After awhile, I got back into my exam room, where I did finally black out. They took an assload of blood and finally, I got some better drugs and went home. Apparently I was really lucky, because if I’d waited any longer, it would have made its way into my blood, and things would have been exceptionally messy.
So, I’m taking the day off until the drugs kick in. That’s when I get a message from my mother…
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Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 11:02:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: sharing_horizons@yahoo.com | Block Address | Add to Address Book
Subject:We heard on the news…
To: alicia_barta@yahoo.com
at noon that Northfield had a tornado with
“significant damage.” Do you know any more about that?
It made goose bumps spread all over my body!
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Northfield is where Bill and I went to college, and it’s where most of our friends are. This scared me to death. So, immediately I logged on to my other email to see if my friend Ernie (who still lives there) knew anything about it - or if he was okay. There, I find this note posted on one of the BBs.
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Note 1464
nevarro Response 227 of 228 2:01 pm May 10, 2001
www.pioneerpress.com
the photo next to the article on tornado damage
that’s my friend joel
behind him
thats josie
his car
josie is no longer
joel is fine
joel is indestructable
josie gave her life to save joel
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That guy in the picture? The simplest way to describe my relationship with him would be to call him my ex-boyfriend, although I know that doesn’t even begin to cover it. He was my best friend in the world for a year and a half, and I’ve spent many a happy hour smoking out the window of that car. My relationship with him effectively ended when I started dating Bill, and despite the fact that Joel did NOT handle the situation with the slightest resemblance of grace or dignity, I really miss him. I will care about that joker for the rest of my life, and that picture rocked me right to the core. He was always pretty nasty to Bill, and for that reason I sort of felt obligated to just let him go. If this spring has taught me anything, it should be that I need to NOT take people I care about for granted. My grandmother passed away, a friend I’d lost contact with was killed by a drunk driver… I should have learned by now that I can’t afford to lose anybody, literally OR figuratively. Maybe that’s enough blog for today.