Me 101

25 to 29 June 2007 – on that week I was admitted into Charing Cross Hospital to have some specialists test done and to meet with all the specialist docs I need, which I haven’t done in over 2 years. And b/c the hospital is right near Harrods in Knightsbridge and you have to go through “The City” to get there, and since it’s would be a pain to go there each time just to take one test, I requested transport to take me there. Anyway, a lot happen during than week, and I’ll do my best to tell you everything.


MONDAY, 23 JUNE: I got up around 07:00 b/c the transport was coming at 10:00 to take mum and me to Charing Cross Hospital. I wasn’t feeling too well with the damn cough and severe mucus I’ve had since October 2006 (that I’m still not recovered from, by the way), but I thought once I got some fresh air and got there I’d feel a bit better. The transport arrived at 10:00, and Sarah got up to put me into my wheelchair, which was in the hallway in front of the main entrance, so I could get into the transport vehicle.

However, the minute Sarah lifted me into my wheelchair I just couldn’t breathe, I felt like my right lung was collapsing as my heart felt like it was racing so fast that it was going explode. And I started panicking; I needed to lie down right away, but there was nowhere to lie down in the hallway, so I just made Sarah lie me down on the floor in the hallway so I could breathe.

Once I could breathe a bit better, I told Sarah to try to get me into my wheelchair again, and I told her to tilt my wheelchair almost all the way back (that made it a bit easier to breath) and I got mum and Sarah to my manually push me out to the waiting transport, since I was still having significant breathing trouble after I got back into my wheelchair.

When the driver saw me he said he wouldn’t be able to take me like this with breathing issues and being tilted and all; and he said we need to rebook transport w/ a stretcher and two-man crew.

So, mum and Sarah wheeled me back inside and laid me down. And it was such a pain to rebook transport (b/c it usually takes about 3 days to book transport), but they finally found transport that they said would pick us up later that day. The transport w/ stretcher arrived at last around 16:00, and took mum and me to Charing Cross Hospital. It was quite an “interesting” journey, as the two-man crew kept arguing w/ one another about what was the best way to get there (one had a strong Jamaican accent and one had a strong Indian accent, so you can just imagine). The driving was bad. Really bad. All through the journey I was just praying that we would get there safely.

Thankfully, we arrived alive, and we got to our room at the ward on the tenth floor around 18:15. Once I was settled into my bed a nurse came and took my stats etc. When the time came to take blood, my veins decided to hide, as did my pulse. She looked at me and I told her, “Yeah…it’s probably that vampire bite from last summer.”

We waited for an eternity for the night doctor to see me. Finally at 22:30 she came and took a detailed medical history. It was a bit difficult to understand her because she had a very strong accent, which I couldn’t quite place. She then insisted that they would have to take blood at some point. In the morning, she tried. The veins disappeared again, so she tried my left foot. No luck. Then she tried the right foot three times. The fourth time, my foot forced my veins to the front kicking and screaming, but the veins had the last laugh because the one she got…uh…burst. Then, quite casually, she said, “If I can’t get a vein on your foot, I’m going to take blood from your groin.”

I didn’t know how to respond, but I’m pretty sure my legs crossed of their own accord.

Let’s just say, the deed was done at the end of the day, with me forcing myself to think of the tundra and me internally singing “The Tundra Rap” from Boosh the whole time. I deserve a medal, as it's one of the many sacrifices I've made in my life all for the good of the world... or is it for medicine. ;-)


And that was only the first day. Just way too much to type. Overall, all my tests came out clear (or as clear as can be expected in my case).