A Visit to the Hospital

Yesterday I had my first experience with cocaine, spent some time at the hospital, and was given two injections of adrenaline. Does that sound bad?

Here's what happened:

Just over a year ago, I noticed my nose was always stuffed up one one side or the other, 24 hours a day, but I didn't feel like I had a cold. It got worse and I began having fairly frequent migraine-strength sinus headaches, and constant low-level headaches.

I went to see an otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat specialist) who decided I have swollen turbinates, also known as nasal concha (click here to see what that means). The solution? Cauterize them! Yep, she decided to burn the inside of my nose, removing a small amount of tissue. The scar tissue should prevent the turbinates from swelling up in the future.

Yesterday morning was my surgery date, and I showed up to the hospital fashionably late. Into the operating room we went, where the surgeon promptly rammed some liquid cocaine up each nostril.




"It's an extremely fast metabolizer," she said. Some of it trickled down my throat which tasted DISGUSTING, but pretty soon I couldn't feel it anyways. Then she gave me a small injection in each nostril, which I assumed was regular anesthetic like at the dentist. My heart started beating like CRAZY and I was starting to wonder what was going on, when the assistant mentioned that those two injections were adrenaline and that my heart should be going crazy right about then.

The painkillers only worked on the left side of my nose, and the burning laser hurt like HELL on the right side, but it was so quick (about 1 second, literally) that it was no worry. 15 minutes after walking into the room, I walked out and returned home to study for last night's exam, which incidentally went fairly well.

My nose has been filled with blood for the last while, but it doesn't hurt or anything, and you can't tell by looking at me, so I'm happy. I get to put polysporin up my nose thrice daily for the next month, oh happy day.

Two photos

I'm still too busy to write blog entries, edit photos to post, etc. I have my two final exams on Wednesday and Thursday and then I will have time to start posting again, hopefully with lots of neat photos.

For the time being, here are two photos. I shot the pics from the rooftop of Buchanan Tower at UBC three weeks ago. I spent about half an hour up there taking photos, but most of my time was spent swatting away the dozens of little gnats trying to get a taste of my blood.

Still alive

I haven't updated in 3 weeks, but I am still alive. The problem is I'm working 10am-6pm at the airport 5-7 days a week, and taking classes at UBC, 7-10pm Monday-Thursday, which leaves approximately 1-2 hours per night to do all of the following:

-Shower
-Eat
-Check emails/internet
-Socialize?
-Study

I usually get the first three items done. This past week, however, I chose to socialize as well which involved 3 straight nights of going out and cutting my sleep way too short as a result. Today I slept for 40 minutes during my lunch break at work.

I don't have time for any interesting stories with photos right now, but I will quickly relate an analogy from my POLI 370A (US Foreign Policy since 1945) prof:

When he was a kid, they went to the Outdoor School in Brackendale near Squamish and they used to have a massive pig there. One very cold morning they woke up to find the pig had become stuck - it was attached to the ground by its own frozen urine.

The camp counsellors were split into two opposing views of what to do to extricate the poor thing. One side thought they should pour warm water on the pig which would melt the ice slowly and allow it to go free in a less painful, more humane way. The others thought the pig needed to be unstuck as quickly as possible because it was clearly in pain, and figured this could be achieved by using a boat oar and a block of wood to pry it loose from the ground.

The second group won the argument not because they had a better plan but because they were louder, and proceeded to run and grab an oar. They wedged it under the pig and pried it loose, successfully freeing the poor animal.

The analogy refers to the current War in Iraq and the different competing plans for how to deal with the apparent problems there. In the end the vocal group won and the war was launched, some might say a bit too hastily. The war ended quickly with the defeat of Saddam Hussein's forces.

The key to the analogy is this: as the pig was being pried free from the ice, it managed to give a mighty kick to the groin of one of the counsellors with its hind legs, sending him to hospital.

The prof, Brian Bow from Dalhousie, told us to take our own conclusions about how this analogy does or doesn't apply, but I'm fairly certain you can see it pretty clearly.