Officially listed

There are 3 things that I want to discuss in today's blog:
1) Getting listed
2) Pickles
3) Battery acid.

That list was created in order for me to remember what I want to talk about tonight, and that I don't forget...b/c I will forget if i don't remember to write it down.

First things first: Getting listed! So today I crawled out of sleep at 8 something. First I had to go pick up 2 meds that i ordered in yesterday but failed to pick up b/c i FORGOT like an idiot, so I picked them up and was on my way home when someone's cat decided to dart out of a random bush and try to get itself killed. I screeched the Red Rockets brakes on, clearly loud enough that an pair of people walking stopped and turned around. I stopped and looked back and was relieved to see the little Siamese run from under my car onto someone's driveway. I don't think i hit it at all, but it was soooooooooooooooo close. It was licking it's tail and something makes me think maybe I knicked it - but FUCK, CAT, STAY INSIDE!

So dad and I caught the greyhound at 10 and got to TO at 11:15ish. My dad wanted to go for lunch so we ate at Sick Kids instead of TGH, since Sick Kids is pretty much not even across the street from TGH and is uber close, and has better food. So in we went, and i ordered a sandwich, ditto to dad, and you got 3 choices of sides and mine were dill pickles, round pickles, and chips. We sat down when i made discovery number 1: my bread smelled like beer. I had to smell it twice to validate it. At one point i even leaned across the table and shoved it into my dad's face and said, "here...take a sniff" and he said, "I guess it does."

So i ate my sandwich and began eating the dill pickles...you know the long ones? So i took a bite and it was honestly really disgusting....so i held it in my hands and studied it, the green skin of it...pickley inside....little circles on the skin....everything....and then it hit me: it looks like frog. It looks just like Howard...the green damp back....the hard back skin of it.....all frog...all death....all sadness and grossness....

I wanted to vomit. I told my dad about my observation and he laughed at me. I love pickles and I don't think I can ever eat them again:( Not for a while at least. Not when they look like frog and my beloved Howard.


So after that, dad and I went to my first appt. I got lots of sheets and info that's way over my head that i've forgotten about. I was told who to call if my pager goes off and i don't know who it is; i can't remember what doors of the hosp i'm supposed to use or where to go, and I know i got other info that i've simply forgotten. How wonderful. How miraculous. How fucking great. Brain you never seize to fail me.

After that I met with the surgeon. We waited over an hour for him to come see us and we found out he had to do an emergency surgery so that was ok. He came in and he was very nice...in his late 30's early 40's perhaps. He told me all about the surgery and stuff, and i got 3 sheets to participate in research if i want. One's about vitamin pre and post tx, ones about detecting rejection, and one's about bone marrow and growing lungs. All pose no additional effort on my part so why not do 'em, eh? I signed the forms and was good to go.

I was told I can expect to wait 6 months but may probably be called before that - that as of today i can expect to be called at any time. I was told i'm low risk and that my survival is 90%. I was told that if you look at my CT scan it looks like i have CF (even though I don't). I was told that my lungs are the size of two 2 L coke bottles. I was also told that my lungs are of equal crapness...that one isn't much better than the other but if they look closer, my right lung is slightly worse. I was also told that Bronchiectasis is predominently found in 3rd world countries - so now i have something in common with Ethiopean children I guess(? - and that's a joke don't get offended). It's found more in the 3rd world b/c they don't have the mechanisms and meds to treat things like pneumonia and bronchitis and recurrent infections. So yeah....what else? That's about it.

Tonight Chantel was over and we rented three movies but watched one: Cloverfield. We initially started out watching Juno but when the DVD started skipping we took it out. My converter for my DVD player crapped out and wouldn't work. We made mac and cheese and sat on the bedroom floor of my room and ate it. My hand was sticky which baffled me b/c I didn't think mac and cheese was that sticky but i guess it is? My nose was incredibly itchy too so i kept scratching it. I scratched it a few times when my cheek and nostril started burning. I must have gotten cheese in my pores or something.

I tried to get my converter to work but it kept failing. I turned it over to smack it and the back was all wet. I couldn't figure it out. It was so sticky and i didn't get what i spilt on it - but it was over everything. Chantel looked at it and suggested that the batteries were leaking. I didn't know what she meant since i've never been privy enough to experience that and she looked at it and said, "Yup....it is", and that's when it dawned on me...

My face was burning....my fingers were covered in battery acid...and i had scratched my face with my acid covered hands.....and that's why it was burning! So i rushed to the bathroom and washed my hands and looked into the mirror, and sure enough there was a red splotch the shap of Italy on my face...like a tiny ring of fire...courtesy of a leaky battery.

So now it's a raised bump.

What a day!

Today is also Beka's 21st b-day so happy b-day! That's it for now! I am going to end this with an official count.

Day 1 of being listed