![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Today...
... like I mentioned before, I had tog et up at 5 AM. Actually, I got up a quarter of an hour earlier to switch on the laptop and the internet and to make myself a hot cup of mint tea because for some obscure reason I was freezing my ass off.
Luckily, they activated the registrations a few minutes early, so I started trying to click on stuff and to get through to the server. At first, it seemed like it was already too late but then I noticed that when I opened the class sites via the global search, they worked. So, a few minutes later, I had applied for everything that somehow fits into my timetable, including the awesome-sounding comics, narratology and short story ones. Hell yeah! This means that, provided the lecturers approve us in the same sequence in which we applied (which, provided they have any sense of justice, should be the case), I'm all set for next semester. Awesome :D
After noticing I was too hyped up to go to bed for what only would have been another hour anyway, I played around a bit and then got ready for my allergist appointment.
When I opened my apartment door, it suddenly started grinding across the floor. I was irritated because it hadn't done that before, but since I had to get it open somehow, I kept dragging and suddenly, CRACK, the lower of the two hinges just broke off. For a second, I had no idea what to do, I absolutely had to leave and certainly couldn't wait for a craftsman to get there and do something about it. So, I decided to tell mum about it later, carefully slid past the half-open and also strangely angled door and somehow managed to close (I had to lift it and basically carry it until it went back into the frame somehow O_o) and lock it from the outside. I was dead sure the next time someone opened it, it would break completely, but whatever. Doctor appointment first.
The doctor was super nice, for some reason, she even wanted to know what subjects I study. When I mentioned Japanese studies, she was in awe and told me she admired me for doing something that difficult. Coming from someone who studied bloody MEDICINE (and successfully at that) that sounded... um... I don't know, maybe I'm really not used to positive comments like that.
Anyway, she wanted me to go through a whole battery of tests and we started with the good old prick one. Since I've done that twice before, I knew what to expect and wasn't anxious about it at all. However, I knew they would take my blood afterward for more detailed analysis, and judging from previous experience, this would be tricky to say the very least.
Needless to say, during the prick test, my arms lit up like Christmas lights. t seems that I'm allergic to about 90% of all plants and, more specifically, more or less every type of tree. Also, what felt like a sharp knife through my heart even though I was more than expecting it, cats. Granted, on a scale of intensity from o to 3, I'm "only" a 1, but it means that a) I'll never be allowed to have cats on my own, b) I have to be careful around them in general which is fun since ALL of my friends keep them as their pets and 3) the reason for all the asthma I've suffered from in the past two years WERE Jiro and Tenchi. Well, the last one isn't that important since that phase of my life is over once and for all, but still. Me? Allergic to the most wonderful animals in the world? I'm amazed I still haven't had several crying fits because of this. Maybe I've just gotten used to bad things happening to me, I don't know...
But let's leave this for now and move on to the part of today's story in which three different persons tried to take my blood for half a morning but still failed.
Yep, you read that correctly, it seems that in the last two years, performing blood withdrawal on me has switched from being difficult to something you shouldn't even think of trying. Without a doubt, the reason number one for this is that I'm fat and my veins are hiding behind a copious amount of "cushioning". To that, add my low blood pressure and the fact that being scared of blood tests makes my arms and hands get really cold, meaning there's even less blood to even LOOK FOR.
Needless to say, it was torture. They tried rubbing my hands, washing them with warm water, but it was hopeless. At one point, the assistant who's supposedly the best at this kind of task tried anyway and stabbed that horrible, huge needle into the back of my left hand. This alone hurts like a mother because it has to go in quite a bit to get anything. But then, when nothing came out, they kept shoving and doing whatever else (I wasn't looking because I'd faint within a matter of seconds if I did) to maybe achieve any kind of result. But after what felt like half an hour, they decided to give up, apparently, they felt it was "becoming too painful" for me. Oh, really?! Well, all they got were about five milliliters but the vial was not even a quarter full. Afterwards, the doctor herself (You have NO IDEA IN THE WORLD how embarrassed I had become att his point) but all she did was stating that it's indeed hopeless. I guess they'll never see any blood sample of me until I haven't lost at least twenty pounds.
Somewhere in between we also did the lung function test which sounded and looked a lot more scary from the outside than it actually was. Also, it seems that the performance of ym lungs hasn't suffered from all the allergic asthma even though I almost expected it to. Well, at least SOMETHING that's okay, ne? >_<
Me and the doc then had our final talk. I'm supposed to see her again in February and until then, I'm supposed to keep a kind of allergy diary, writing down if and what kind of symptoms I experience each day. This also means NO MORE PILLS but the doc (Such a sweet and kind woman, I wouldn't have minded talking about my studies for longer but she's extremely busy, which also explains why, as a new patient, you'll ahve to wait for about two months until cou can get your first appontment) gave me two inhalators (one to use twice a day and one for emergencies, as in "HALP I'm not getting any air!") because it's likely that my asthma will return without the pill protection. We'll see how that goes and if I can get any alternative meds (a.k.a. shots) once we know exactly how bad my symptoms are and which allegens cause the worst crap for me.
Once I had left, I called mum and told her everything. She was really sorry for me, but at this point, I was still very much okay and rather proud of me for enduring all that. I mean, it's not entirely MY fault for taking on a little too much weight, plus, I'm already working hard on losing it again. Mum also promised me to call the apartment agency to have them send someone to take care of my door (luckily, such repairs are on them).
The visit to the local court was a mess. I thought I was in the right room but the old hag sitting there didn't even let me finish a sentence, wrote some OTHER address on a piece of paper, told me to go there and basically threw me out. I'm still not sure if she even GOT what exactly I wanted. Um... hello?! If you deal with PEOPLE on a daily basis you should at least know some basic manners, as in, not FUCKING INTERRUPTING SOMEONE WHO NEEDS YOUR HELP. The whole blood taking crap AND this took their toll and when I called my mum as I was out of the building, I finally burst into tears. As always, she was understanding and said we'll get this crap managed somehow, and right now, I don't really doubt that, even though I'm a huge pussy sometimes :|
On the way home, the carpenter's shop called me and told me they'll be sending someone at noon. I decided to go back home right now instead of the short hop to the grocery shop I was planning and wait for him first. When I got home, my door couldn't be closed any more like I had expected, but the carpenter arrived really quickly and the thing was fixed within less than ten minutes. When I came back from shopping afterwards (nothing big, mainly some bread which I was running out of - we Germans eat A LOT of bread, y'know ^_~), I had a small lunch and then passed out for four hours - Granted, it was only 1 PM but I'd been up twice as long as most of my housemates. Plus, I was freezing again, so that extended nap was exactly what I needed.
Crazy and bad-ish day much? I hope this was the last one of its kind for quite a while :|
Luckily, they activated the registrations a few minutes early, so I started trying to click on stuff and to get through to the server. At first, it seemed like it was already too late but then I noticed that when I opened the class sites via the global search, they worked. So, a few minutes later, I had applied for everything that somehow fits into my timetable, including the awesome-sounding comics, narratology and short story ones. Hell yeah! This means that, provided the lecturers approve us in the same sequence in which we applied (which, provided they have any sense of justice, should be the case), I'm all set for next semester. Awesome :D
After noticing I was too hyped up to go to bed for what only would have been another hour anyway, I played around a bit and then got ready for my allergist appointment.
When I opened my apartment door, it suddenly started grinding across the floor. I was irritated because it hadn't done that before, but since I had to get it open somehow, I kept dragging and suddenly, CRACK, the lower of the two hinges just broke off. For a second, I had no idea what to do, I absolutely had to leave and certainly couldn't wait for a craftsman to get there and do something about it. So, I decided to tell mum about it later, carefully slid past the half-open and also strangely angled door and somehow managed to close (I had to lift it and basically carry it until it went back into the frame somehow O_o) and lock it from the outside. I was dead sure the next time someone opened it, it would break completely, but whatever. Doctor appointment first.
The doctor was super nice, for some reason, she even wanted to know what subjects I study. When I mentioned Japanese studies, she was in awe and told me she admired me for doing something that difficult. Coming from someone who studied bloody MEDICINE (and successfully at that) that sounded... um... I don't know, maybe I'm really not used to positive comments like that.
Anyway, she wanted me to go through a whole battery of tests and we started with the good old prick one. Since I've done that twice before, I knew what to expect and wasn't anxious about it at all. However, I knew they would take my blood afterward for more detailed analysis, and judging from previous experience, this would be tricky to say the very least.
Needless to say, during the prick test, my arms lit up like Christmas lights. t seems that I'm allergic to about 90% of all plants and, more specifically, more or less every type of tree. Also, what felt like a sharp knife through my heart even though I was more than expecting it, cats. Granted, on a scale of intensity from o to 3, I'm "only" a 1, but it means that a) I'll never be allowed to have cats on my own, b) I have to be careful around them in general which is fun since ALL of my friends keep them as their pets and 3) the reason for all the asthma I've suffered from in the past two years WERE Jiro and Tenchi. Well, the last one isn't that important since that phase of my life is over once and for all, but still. Me? Allergic to the most wonderful animals in the world? I'm amazed I still haven't had several crying fits because of this. Maybe I've just gotten used to bad things happening to me, I don't know...
But let's leave this for now and move on to the part of today's story in which three different persons tried to take my blood for half a morning but still failed.
Yep, you read that correctly, it seems that in the last two years, performing blood withdrawal on me has switched from being difficult to something you shouldn't even think of trying. Without a doubt, the reason number one for this is that I'm fat and my veins are hiding behind a copious amount of "cushioning". To that, add my low blood pressure and the fact that being scared of blood tests makes my arms and hands get really cold, meaning there's even less blood to even LOOK FOR.
Needless to say, it was torture. They tried rubbing my hands, washing them with warm water, but it was hopeless. At one point, the assistant who's supposedly the best at this kind of task tried anyway and stabbed that horrible, huge needle into the back of my left hand. This alone hurts like a mother because it has to go in quite a bit to get anything. But then, when nothing came out, they kept shoving and doing whatever else (I wasn't looking because I'd faint within a matter of seconds if I did) to maybe achieve any kind of result. But after what felt like half an hour, they decided to give up, apparently, they felt it was "becoming too painful" for me. Oh, really?! Well, all they got were about five milliliters but the vial was not even a quarter full. Afterwards, the doctor herself (You have NO IDEA IN THE WORLD how embarrassed I had become att his point) but all she did was stating that it's indeed hopeless. I guess they'll never see any blood sample of me until I haven't lost at least twenty pounds.
Somewhere in between we also did the lung function test which sounded and looked a lot more scary from the outside than it actually was. Also, it seems that the performance of ym lungs hasn't suffered from all the allergic asthma even though I almost expected it to. Well, at least SOMETHING that's okay, ne? >_<
Me and the doc then had our final talk. I'm supposed to see her again in February and until then, I'm supposed to keep a kind of allergy diary, writing down if and what kind of symptoms I experience each day. This also means NO MORE PILLS but the doc (Such a sweet and kind woman, I wouldn't have minded talking about my studies for longer but she's extremely busy, which also explains why, as a new patient, you'll ahve to wait for about two months until cou can get your first appontment) gave me two inhalators (one to use twice a day and one for emergencies, as in "HALP I'm not getting any air!") because it's likely that my asthma will return without the pill protection. We'll see how that goes and if I can get any alternative meds (a.k.a. shots) once we know exactly how bad my symptoms are and which allegens cause the worst crap for me.
Once I had left, I called mum and told her everything. She was really sorry for me, but at this point, I was still very much okay and rather proud of me for enduring all that. I mean, it's not entirely MY fault for taking on a little too much weight, plus, I'm already working hard on losing it again. Mum also promised me to call the apartment agency to have them send someone to take care of my door (luckily, such repairs are on them).
The visit to the local court was a mess. I thought I was in the right room but the old hag sitting there didn't even let me finish a sentence, wrote some OTHER address on a piece of paper, told me to go there and basically threw me out. I'm still not sure if she even GOT what exactly I wanted. Um... hello?! If you deal with PEOPLE on a daily basis you should at least know some basic manners, as in, not FUCKING INTERRUPTING SOMEONE WHO NEEDS YOUR HELP. The whole blood taking crap AND this took their toll and when I called my mum as I was out of the building, I finally burst into tears. As always, she was understanding and said we'll get this crap managed somehow, and right now, I don't really doubt that, even though I'm a huge pussy sometimes :|
On the way home, the carpenter's shop called me and told me they'll be sending someone at noon. I decided to go back home right now instead of the short hop to the grocery shop I was planning and wait for him first. When I got home, my door couldn't be closed any more like I had expected, but the carpenter arrived really quickly and the thing was fixed within less than ten minutes. When I came back from shopping afterwards (nothing big, mainly some bread which I was running out of - we Germans eat A LOT of bread, y'know ^_~), I had a small lunch and then passed out for four hours - Granted, it was only 1 PM but I'd been up twice as long as most of my housemates. Plus, I was freezing again, so that extended nap was exactly what I needed.
Crazy and bad-ish day much? I hope this was the last one of its kind for quite a while :|