Please pray for Escapay

[Chernabog_Rocks]

I bet when he leaves there'll be a ton of new Merlin and Doctor Who fans left behind

[Black pearl]

Feeling unwell sucks. I hope he does get to go home tomorrow. I pray that he feel better.

[blackcauldron85]

Oh no! I hope that Albert feels much better soon!!!

[xxhplinkxx]

I normally don't click on any of these "Please pray for [insert name/cause here]" threads, but since it's Albert...


Get over it, you big wuss!!!


And here's 2 pink elephants for you to feel better: :pink:



The one of the left is Jack, and the one on the right is Doctor Donna.

[lord-of-sith]

Get well soon Scaps! You're in my thoughts.

[Mickeyfan1990]

Hope you get well, Escapay.

[disneyfella]

Get well soon, buddy.

[Jules]

Oh Albert! Hope you'll be alive and kicking in no time ... well, kicking at least.

If I knew your address I'd shave my head and send you a bouquet of hair as a get well soon gift.

God, these lame hair jokes are getting old!

[Lazario]

Get better, Escapay. That's an order.

God, these lame hair jokes are getting old!

Well, if you would just comb it every once in a while - people would stop making fun at you.

[Mr. Toad]

Get well soon Albert.

[Escapay]

Thanks everyone!

I'm breaking my UD break by coming here to post (and to check a few other threads). Yeah, I was on another break from the forum (avoid the forums for a month, hope for better discussions). Dan was hinting at it, even though I specifically told the few who knew *not to say anything or draw attention*! Of course, getting a viral infection and ending up completely computerless led to it being out there for everyone...

Anyway, the viral infection should die down in a few days, I was discharged yesterday.

BTW, lumbar punctures suck.

ETA:

And now it's 9:23 and I'm getting tired. I'm gonna log off and not return to UD for another couple weeks or so (yeah, going back on my break).

albert

[Mr. Toad]

Most excellent news. Kram - tell him to rest and get better.

[DaveWadding]

Hi Scaps

Bye Scaps

[SpringHeelJack]

BTW, lumbar punctures suck

Ugh, they do. I refused one a year ago even though the doctors thought I might have had meningitis.

...clearly I did not, and in retrospect it was silly of me to turn it down. But it was my first time alone in the ER and I panicked, dammit!

And glad to hear you're improving, Scappy-Doo.

[totallyminnie86]

Feel Better Esacapay!!

I'll be praying for you. I'd send to your house if I could!

[ajmrowland]

Feel better, Scaps!

[CampbellzSoup]

I jsut read this!

Feel better my dude!

[Jules]

Feel better my dude!

Are you the one who bought Escapay out of slavery a couple of years ago?

[Escapay]

Feel better my dude!

Are you the one who bought Escapay out of slavery a couple of years ago?

*Out* of slavery? I've been Soupy's personal slave for the past few years, hence "my dude." That's his pet name for me. Stuff like "My dude shined my shoes really nice this morning, so I gave him an extra orange for breakfast" or "My dude forgot to separate the lights and the darks in my laundry, so I gave him ten spanks, but he enjoyed that so I took away his DVD of The Ten Commandments for a week."

Anyway, it's been a couple weeks since my last post and I'm not really returning in the normal sense of posting regularly (that might be next week, or I might extend my break simply to extend it). I just wanted to provide an update of everything post-February 24. Well, actually, it's a more accurate update of everything since I got sick in the first place. It's not that interesting to read, but for the few UD members who are curious as to what happens in Scaps' personal life, here it is direct from my Facebook note (though I've added and deleted some things, and there's actually more additions here than in my Facebook note):

The Incredibly True But Remarkably Dull Story of Albert In The Hospital

So Monday, February 16, I suddenly got this rash on my arms and chest that didn't seem that big a deal. I took a benadryl and didn't think more of it. The next day, the rash came back, and this time was accompanied by a fever. I initially thought it was just a 24-hour bug (for the fever) but the rash was strange, as it came back at night. Odd, huh?

This continued for Wednesday and Thursday (February 18 and 19). Friday (February 23) I went to Virtua Hospital. They kept me there from Friday to Monday, and gave me various tests (CT Scans, X-rays, blood cultures, and the dreaded Lumbar Puncture a.k.a. Spinal Tap). If you can, avoid lumbar punctures.

While I was there I watched a fair amount of television, though I mainly stuck with ABC Family, where I saw that commercial for Au Pair 3 one too many times. I want to see the movie, but now I'm just annoyed by the commercial for it. I saw "Grease" two times, then saw "Grease 2" for the first time in like, 3 years. Surprisingly, I think I prefer it to "Grease." I also saw the "Look Who's Talking" movies after so many years and now I know why I haven't seen them in so many years. Those movies are stupid. On the plus side, I watched "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" twice, and I think it's hilarious to see where they made some edits for the cursing.

But enough about the movies. I also had a bad roommate. It was this middle-aged man named Mr. Patterson who was a surly snorer. Seriously, he snored like there was no tomorrow, making sleeping rather difficult for me. Plus, he kept his television on all day and night, regardless if he was watching. And since he spent the majority of his time asleep, he wasn't watching. So listening to the History Channel at 2 in the morning isn't the most ideal way to spend the night. And when he *was* awake, he was quite a foul-mouthed guy. It was frustrating trying to tune him out whilst watching "Look Who's Talking Now" or "Grease 2".

Thankfully I only had the guy as a roomie for like a day and a half. I was able to get moved to another room on Sunday morning. I actually had the room to myself for all of Sunday, which was nice. And I got to watch the Oscars in peace, though I fell asleep during certain moments so I missed out on a few awards. But I did get to listen to Sean Penn get all political during his speech. Some people just don't know when to shut up. Then again, I'm not that big a fan of Sean Penn anyway.

The room service was rather nice at Virtua. We had a menu of different foods we could order for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I rarely had a chance to have breakfast since they always wanted to do tests on me, which mean not food in the morning. Lunch and dinner was good though. The chicken tenders were pretty good, though I didn't really have much of an appetite during my entire time there. The pizza was...well, passably decent. I also tried their pasta, it wasn't too bad. The only reason I'm mentioning this is because the food at the next hospital (later in the note) was icky. Like, it's what you'd expect hospital food to be. Horribly bland and not very tasty. I think I will avoid mashed potatoes for the next six months simply because it was always a part of my lunch and dinner at the next hospital.

Anyway, throughout my four days at Virtua (Friday to Monday, February 20 to 23), they still didn't know what was wrong with me, so I was discharged on Monday (February 23) with the diagnosis of "fever of unknown origin." They figured it was viral and that it and the fever would go away in a few days (the rashes stopped on Friday, strangely, but thankfully).

Well, it didn't. Tuesday through Friday (February 24 to 27) I went through the motions of going to school and other stuff, but was always tired and always feverish except during the few hours when the Tylenol was actually working. I became proficient at using our thermometer, taking the childproof cap of the Tylenol bottle, and being all-around tired and listless.

Saturday morning (February 28 ) I was like, dead in bed. I didn't want to get up, the fever was really high, and so the parental units decided to take me to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (affectionately abbreviated HUP on all their blankets, towels, etc.). I went through more tests there and had more blood taken from me than I cared for, along with IV and other crap. Oh yes, and this is the hospital with the bad hospital food. Seriously, I think the only good food I had there was from the hospital cafeteria (a rather good chicken/spinach/pasta bake) rather than from the patients' choices (really bad salisbury stake, really bland lemon chicken, and really tasteless mashed potatoes). No wait, scratch that, the only good food I had was not from the hospital cafeteria. It was from the Quiznos that my parents would bring if I asked them. God, I love the prime rib and peppercorn or the chicken carbonara.

My roommate from Saturday to Thursday was Mr. Johnson, a nice man in his 50s. It was funny because some days he'd have his whole family in to visit, and then other days I'd have my whole family. We got along really well and he got to leave on Thursday to settle his affairs before returning a week later to get bypass surgery (so as of this writing, he's back in the hospital.). My next roommate was an old man in his 80s (I think). I never really knew his name, and I don't think he ever really knew mine. We'd always just say "Hey, neighbour" or "Hey, roomie" and leave it at that. Like Mr. Johnson, sometimes he'd have his whole family over and sometimes I'd have my whole family over. Rarely during either roommates did both families come over at the same time. When I left the hospital, Mr. Neighbour/Roomie was still there.

Anyway, back to the medical stuff. On Sunday (March 1) they delivered the news: I had some kind of bacterial infection on my liver, part of the strep family. So on Monday (March 2) they put me under (well, not really under, it was a conscious sedation that was more conscious than sedation, as my body was rejecting the sedatives) and put tubes in me to drain the two abscesses on my liver that contained the infection. These tubes would have to be flushed and drained daily, and unfortunately, they won't come out until it's confirmed there's nothing left from the abscess to drain. So as I'm writing this (or in the UD case, rewriting some portions), there are two tubes coming out of my body that go into bags that I wear around my waist and they drain rather slowly. It's annoying as hell cause I can't roll around in bed, I can't bend down as easily as I used to to pick things up, and showering is a hassle.

In addition, on Tuesday (March 3) they decided to do a TEE, or transesophageal echocardiogram. Basically they give me some lidocaine to gargle in my mouth then swallow. The stuff tastes horrible and the doctors were right that that's the worst part of the entire thing. After the lidocaine, the anesthesia guy put me under, and while I was under, a tube was inserted down my throat so that the doctors could take pictures of my heart. They said that afterwards I could see the pictures if I wanted, but I refused. Knowing I had a tube down my throat and then that they took pictures with it was bad enough.

Funnily enough, when I woke up from the anesthesia, I asked them "So are you going to do it yet?" and they said the procedure was done and finished. Silly me.

Anyway, that was Tuesday. Wednesday through Friday (March 4 to 6) was basically recovering from all this, more draining, and waiting to see how I'd get home. I watched television again, though on some days I did have my laptop, which allowed me to do some writing, but there was no wifi so I couldn't use the internet.

The television sucked, there were only like, 30 channels and once again I watched more ABC Family and more Au Pair 3 commercials than anyone should in their lifetime. I saw all the Harry Potter movies because I watched the entire weekend marathon. I watched Game Show Network in the morning, and now I miss shows like Card Sharks and Blockbusters. I tried not to watch soaps because I didn't want to get hooked again, but I did watch some just to pass the time in the afternoon and to avoid ABC Family. Perhaps the only good television I got to watch were the Saved By The Bell reruns that TBS airs from 7-9 am. Yeah, I had to wake up at 7 am every day cause that's when the doctors came to check up on me and have me do all the stuff like breathing and checking my pulse. Now that I'm home I wake up at 7 automatically. It sucks, and I want to go back to sleep, but I can't, so I lie in bed for like a half-hour before I suddenly to back to sleep again.

Back to the medical stuff, I got a PICC installed in me on Thursday (March 5). It's an IV that goes in my left arm to my heart. And it comes with this pump that I wear in a fanny pack. Well, that I will wear in a fanny pack. For some reason they forgot to provide me with one. Hopefully the nurse that comes in today will give me the pack to carry the pump and IV and penicillin. That way I don't have to carry it around manually. Of course, I'd prefer that I was just perfectly healthy without any IV's or tubes in me. But beggars can't be choosers and this stuff is making me healthy so I might as well accept it for now. EDIT: I originally wrote this note on Wednesday, March 11, and I've updated it in certain places for Facebook, and of course, I'm updating certain parts for this UD post. I figured I'd mention here that I got the pack, and it's a nice blue colour that I appreciate, though it gets in the way when I sit down. And I'm gonna need to wear it for six weeks. Oh well, at least it's not the tubes for six weeks.

Saturday and Sunday (March 7 and 8 ) was more recuperating time and the only reason I was in the hospital on those days was because they couldn't finish up my discharge stuff on Friday (March 6), which meant at the earliest I could go home on Monday (March 9). Well, I came home not on Monday as expected, but Tuesday (March 10). Yeah, I was annoyed that I couldn't go home on Monday. I spent much of the afternoon and night privately brooding and being mad, but on the plus side I did get a good night's sleep as I knew it'd be my last in the hospital.

All through this I was missing school and internetless. I wrote a letter that my sister e-mailed to my professors so that they know I'd have to catch up on all the stuff I missed, and reschedule tests I'd miss. I chose not to tell many other people beyond family because I don't like it when people worry about me. Naturally all the family knew I was sick (save, for some reason, one of my cousins who was surprised when my sister mentioned my hospital stay over the phone as if he knew, when of course he didn't.) I told a few close friends that I was in the hospital, but didn't want to tell everyone because as I said earlier, I don't like people worrying about me. I told my former fifth grade teacher, as I had been observing her class last semester for a class project, and I'm pretty much a volunteer aide for the class (well, before I got sick). She kept telling the class that I was busy with school and couldn't come to aide the class, but eventually had to tell the students that I was sick. They all made really nice "get well soon" cards, and later on I got a card that was signed by all the teachers I knew at the elementary school. In addition, I got cards from relatives and such, and a few text messages from the close friends who knew I was in the hospital.

Unfortunately, internet-wise my brother (Kram Nebuer here at UD) decided to tell you guys at UD that I was sick, even though I never said he could. Bad Kram! I was on my annual monthlong break, and I didn't want UD members to think I was gone that long because I was sick. Ironically, in this case I really was, and technically still am until the tubes and IV are removed and I get a clean bill of health from HUP. But yeah, I started my UD break healthy, but unfortunately have been sick for most of it. I've gotten a few updates about what UD's been talking (or not talking) about via netty, Brendan, and Ames (all three via e-mail) as well as some regular conversations with Kram about some things (apparently my whole "Snow White is a gimmick movie" caused quite a stir which I won't apologize for nor address as my opinion was already made and I don't need to justify or extend it for anyone), and it looks like I've not missed out on anything life-altering. There's still the Blu-Ray/DVD arguments, there's still the "what colours are correct?" arguments, and of course, there's still aspect ratio issues that disneyfella is debunking for the benefit of us all (thanks, fella!). Hopefully Disney pays attention to that for future DVD/Blu-Ray releases instead of giving us open-matte 1.33:1 (or pan&scan of matted widescreen) when matted widescreen is what was intended.

Anyway, it's Wednesday afternoon (well, for UDers it's Friday afternoon) and I typed this all up for god knows why. I'm restless and want to go places, but at the same time I know I have to take it easy. Damn. (Update: Yesterday and today I went back to school to talk with my professors about school work I'd have to do over the spring break. And on Thursday I had Panera, then went to the mall for like, 10 minutes, but for the most part, I've remained at home. On the plus side, I watched "Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars" again, along with some of the special features. "I bring Sutekh's gift of jelly to all human life"...priceless.)

So anyway, UDers, if you read all this, I'm sorry. It's a slightly boring story, and a long one. It's all about me which seems rather vain, but hey, maybe it's more interesting than "25 Random Things About Me" that everyone and their brother and their best friend and their best friend's brother are doing. By the way, I'm gonna steal one of my friends' ideas for the "25 Random Things"...

1. Thing
2. Thing
3. Thing
4. Thing
5. Thing
6. Thing
7. Thing
8. Thing
9. Thing
10. Thing
11. Thing
12. Thing
13. Thing
14. Thing
15. Thing
16. Thing
17. Thing
18. Thing
19. Thing
20. Thing
21. Thing
22. Thing
23. Thing
24. Thing
25. Thing

albert

[blackcauldron85]

I'm glad that you're somewhat up and about! It sucks that you have to have tubes and fanny packs and no mashed potatoes for a long time, but you'll pull through it and will have a story to tell for years to come.