lapis_lazuli022

I'm going into the hospital next Tuesday for a minor operation. This morning, I got my pre-surgery blood tests done. Just the standard things -- blood count, type-and-screen, one last pregnancy test because they never believe you when you say you're not.

Just got results back, and my blood type is not what I've always been told it is. I've always been A+ and this test says O+. I've had other surgeries and been typed before. In school, I volunteered for a friend who was doing a report on blood typing. I even still have the little bracelet from when I was born, with "A+" on it. I'm pretty sure that doesn't mean "good job."

I've never had a transfusion, I've never had a transplant. In researching, I'm discovering that "an individual's blood type does not normally change. But interpretations of results using more sophisticated reagents or techniques may lead to an apparent change."

It's not as though the difference matters. If I need a transfusion I'd be getting O, and that's fine if I'm O or if I'm A. Still, I'm a little (a lot) weirded out.

Can I request a recount? I'm going to call the lab and try.

Update: The lab technician still has my tube, ran it again, and says all is in order. But that they'll do another screening when I get there for my surgery, just to doublecheck.

Weird.

The good news is, it's not a spider bite.

The bad news is, it's shingles (aka, adult chickenpox). It's funny because when we bought our condo 8 years ago, Matt got shingles from the moving stress, so now apparently it's my turn.

Shingles is not contagious the way chickenpox is. It occurs only among people who have already had chickenpox, triggered internally by extreme stress and the accompanying immune system weakness. The only way to catch it is to come into contact with the fluid from the blisters, and even then, it will not transmit shingles. It will transmit chickenpox to people who've never had it, and do nothing to people who have.

So at least I know that everyone I saw at New Years' should be safe, whether they had chickenpox as children or not. (whew)

And at least I know that there are no rogue spiders running around my apartment, and that my arm is not going to turn plaid and fall off. At least, not from this.

It's painful. Very. Treatment is to take pain killers and wait it out, so I guess I'll be doing that.

I'm really, really glad I got it seen to. From the way it stings, I was assuming it was a spider bite. I never would have guessed.

Tuesday morning I felt iffy, tuesday afternoon I felt lousy, and tuesday night the stomach flu hit full force. I curled up in bed with my laptop, staying mildly connected in between drifting off to sleep for five minutes and waking up just in time to run to the bathroom. Finally around 3:30am my stomach stopped rejecting stuff, though the high fever lasted well into wednesday, and I didn't go to work.

I managed to crawl back in today, though I wasn't good for much. Still not feeling good for much, but at least I'm feeling more human again. That's a start.

My comfort food when I'm sick, really sick, is orange gatorade. Powerade is fine too, but it has to be orange. Not having any of either to hand, I decided that orange jello was the next best thing. Luckily we have plenty of jello in the house and it's the easiest thing to make, even when you're shaking and you can't see straight. I've been pretty much living on jello for the last two days. Jello, water, tea... spelt toast occasionally, or a handful of spelt pretzels. I tried soup broth for lunch today and my stomach didn't like that too much, so it was back to toast and jello for dinner. Which is fine with me. If my stomach isn't complaining, neither am I.

I watched a West Wing disc last night, so I can finally return that to Netflix. I was actually a little disappointed at the end of the 4th episode that my marathon was cut short and I didn't have the next one to continue on with. I also know I'm not feeling well when West Wing makes me cry. After I was done, I carefully stacked both remotes (TV and VCR) on Matt's nighttable. There was an early morning crash which I identified as remotes falling to the floor (kitten-induced), but today I can only find one of the remotes. No clue where the second one's gone off to. I've searched the whole room, save for moving the bed away from the wall. That can wait till Matt gets home tomorrow. I did move the nightstands out, though, and I found my lapis pendant that I'd been pretty sure had been knocked down behind. So the exploration wasn't a total loss.

I'm feeling a little under the weather still, and I haven't been sleeping well, so I think I'm going to go crawl back into bed and see if the tiredness hits me.

Typical: Get a papercut on the very tip of your finger (where they bleed a lot). It happens.

Only me: Slice your wrist on the sharp corner of the first aid box while getting a band-aid for your papercut.

Let's pause for a moment to savour the irony...

(I'm fine. No, really.)

v. short summary: Ouch.

longer summary later.