Last week, Darpino and I went up to the Ottobar to catch The Ex. Or was that the week before? Time has been rushing so fluid, so quickly, like a a river over falls. I\’ve lost track of everything. But it was around that time, right after Jamie left, that my cold started. I just couldn\’t fully kick it.
Skipped seeing Gogol Bordello with Brian last week; didn\’t want to aggravate the drainage after taking Dr Maude out on the Friday night prior. He had hoped to see his old friends from the Cunt, but none showed up. Slow night; dull times. But still as smoky at the bar as ever. Having skipped Gogol, I thought I\’d go into remission. De nada.
I was supposed to work the door at DC9 on Saturday, but couldn\’t. I\’d completely lost my voice. The boyfriend covered my shift, instead. Spent the night at home, sleeping in a cold sweat for fourteen hours. When I woke up on Sunday, Christmas Eve, I couldn\’t hear anything out of my left ear, and the pain was intense. I used to get swimmer\’s ear a lot, and I\’ve had a lot of ear infections, but that was nothing like those.
Around noon, Dr Maude drove me off to the ER. Pneumonia, burst ear drums, middle ear infections, the works; all bacterial. I\’m now taking 16 pills in the morning, five in the afternoon, three in the evening, and four at night. One of them is the steroid, prednisone. I\’m so sensitive to steroids, that after only three days on it, I have already gained eight pounds since what I weighed in with at the hospital. And it\’s not even from \”holiday munchies,\” because I\’ve lost my appetite.
This is also the third time I\’ve been on antibiotics since September. The doctor at the ER asked me, \”Do you usually get this sick,\” to which I started to reply, \”No,\” but had to revise to, \”Well, I guess so.\” I\’ve had pneumonia at ages 5, 13, 19, and now 25. Great track record — about every six years. And each time I\’ve gotten pneumonia, my immune system has been wrecked, without ever fully recovering. Hence the \”relapsing-remitting\” mimicry of MS.
I haven\’t told my family, blood or chosen. They\’d have stuck me in bed all weekend and all this week, which just couldn\’t be done. Things to do, visitors to entertain. The pseudo-sprog has been in town, and I managed to read her a twenty page short story last night. Kitten\’s now five months old, so we got her a little rust-colored collar with a bell on it; she hates the bell, and keeps trying to bite it off. I got new tires put on my car today, only two years behind schedule. My Christmas tree is purple, and there are multi-colored Christmas lights on the front windows, but the pseudo-sprog thought the whole Hermitage had been decorated for the holiday. \”No, honey, it always looks like a bordello; the only things added are the snowflakes on the windows, the multi-colored lights, the tree, and the snowmen.\”
Oh yeah, and my sister and her fiancé exchanged about $3,000 worth of gifts just between each other. She just turned 21 last week, and he\’s the same age. Yeah, yeah…but neither of them have ever lived outside of their parents\’ homes. Reality may hit, but only after the contract is sealed over the giant rock that\’s on her ring finger.
Best gift I gave this year: my mom cracked up when she unwrapped a set of ear plugs right as my dad unwrapped the spoons, nose flute, jew harp, and penny whistle that I gave him.
Best moment: when my grandfather and his eldest daughter both managed to unwrap their long johns at the same time. My head is too foggy to remember the remarks they made, but everyone\’s laughter cuts through the murk.
Best overall gift: the bound collections of the family trees that my mother has been working on since August, complete with photos, immigration records, births and deaths, pets, letters, and various miscellany. These date on my maternal grandfather\’s side back to Bavaria in the 1500\’s, and on my maternal grandmother\’s side back to Ireland in the 1800\’s and Virginia in the 1700\’s. My grandfather was thrilled.
