So this blog is going to be a challenge for me to write without just complaining or having a pity party for myself the whole time. Especially since I’m not feeling very spiritual right now. So we’ll see how it turns out…
February has not been kind to me. In fact, I’m thinking of boycotting it in the future. That’s right, boycotting a month. Don’t tell me it’s not possible. “But why has February been so bad matthew?” you may ask. Well, a few weeks ago I was playing basketball and broke the 5th metacarpal in my right hand. Which hurt. The fracture was bad enough that I had surgery the next Friday to put 3 screws in it. (I’m secretly hoping I set off metal detectors now.) But unfortunately the fracture and surgery means I have had my right hand in a brace/splint for almost 3 weeks and I’ll have to have it for 4 more weeks, and if I try to use it I’ll break the pins out. And matthew is not left-handed. In fact, matthew is very very right-handed. Which makes nearly everything a pain in the a–…um, hand.
February also has the infamous distinction of being the sickest month in College Station. Not “sick” in the way that hip cool college kids and extreme sports athletes use it. Sick as in…everybody is unhealthy. A&M has close to 50,000 students on its campus. I think 17 people didn’t get sick this month. I was not one of the 17. Last Thursday I went to the doctor and he informed me I had strep throat. Which explained a lot…like why I couldn’t swallow and why my lymph nodes were the size of Volkswagon Beetles. So he shot some penicillin in my butt (“the needle is too big for the arm”) and gave me some antibiotics (apparently the strongest stuff out there). Oh and some acetaminophen/codeine…which helped. But as a word of advice to the reader, do not EVER confuse “teaspoons” with “tablespoons.” I will leave it at that. Let’s just say Thursday and Friday are a bit hazy in my memory.
As the weekend rolled around, I was not any better. Like, at all. Not exactly the outcome you hope for when you’ve been pumped full of antibiotics, narcotics, and other drugs for the past few days. I went back to the doctor on Monday and after looking at my new symptoms and doing some blood work, he said something to the effect of “you’re not going to like what I’m about to tell you” …very comforting words coming from the man being paid to make you healthy. Turns out, on top of the strep, I also got mono. Which basically means that for the next 6-8 weeks I’m going to be the most boring person around. So after that diagnosis, in addition to my strep antibiotics, I got two steroid shots and some stronger pain meds, hydrocodone. It has all helped some, and I think I’m pretty much over the strep. The mono is just going to take lots of fluids, lots of rest, and lots of time. Until then I’ll just take a lot of naps and hope and pray I graduate this semester.
And I am now addicted to cough drops. Specifically Halls Mountain Menthol (which sounds vaguely like a cigarette).
Editor’s Note: I know this was a fairly light-hearted post about my problems, but really it has not been a fun few weeks. At all. In fact it’s been pretty rough. Doing everything left-handed is hard enough when you’re not sick, much less when you feel like poop. I’ve been lucky enough to have awesome parents and friends who have helped me so much, but man…being sick and injured just ain’t cool.
