When somethings bored, I wanna put a little exciting on it
If somethings low, I wanna put a little high on it
When somethings lost, I wanna fight to get it back again
'The Fixer' - Pearl Jam
Better late than never, let's finish out with the remainder of the great Portland trip. It definitely ended up being an up and down three days. Tuesday I can cover pretty briefly. I stayed in the hotel room as the pain was...unpleasant. Wednesday however was markedly better. After my injection, I packed up my laptop, sketch book, and some reading material, and headed in search of somewhere nice to be. My first stop took me down to Waterfront Park, which on a day like this, was absolutely beautiful. I found a nice perch near a fountain and started drawing all types of random things I saw. All in all it was a nice way to release some creativity, and it might be fun actually trying to get decent at it. After a handful of pages were filled I decided to continue my travels deeper into the downtown area. However this part of the day was short-lived as after a bit more wandering and some lunch, I found my strength waning considerably, so I hopped a bus and went back to the hotel. Pretty much stayed in the rest of the night, as I knew that having to be at the hospital at 6:30am was gonna throw off my sleep schedule just a bit.
And about sleeping I couldn't have been more right. At about 3:30am I woke up and continued the extra-large dosing of pills that I'd started Wednesday evening. At that point I was at two pills every three hours. I was a little amused because this pain meant that the drugs were working WAY better than anticipated, which would be confirmed very shortly. After packing up, I headed to the hospital. The started me off with the final injection (as though I needed it at that point) and then left me in bed to await the staff that would be doing the procedure. We didn't get the show started until 9:00am, which made me figure that I wouldn't be out of there until late evening. Not long after starting is when I learned why I'd been taking calcium supplements for the last two weeks. The stuff they put in to keep your blood from clotting absolutely drains your body of calcium. It took about ten minutes before my face went tingly and they had to start feeding me Tums to offset the loss, and this was even with an IV drip of calcium running as well.
Other than that it was pretty uneventful, all four hours of it. They had told me to expect six to eight hours, and we were done in four. Yeah, I think the drugs did their job. With my contribution complete, I headed downtown to wait for my ride to Seattle, provided by the incomparable Kevin Price. Definitely an upgrade over riding the train back alone.
Now that I've had a little bit of distance from the process to think about it, there are a few things that stick out to me. The first off is that if by some crazy odds I ever had to do this again, I would find some way to take someone with me, because doing that alone honestly sucked. That's not to say I didn't have fun most of the week, but there were moments, particularly when the drugs wore off, when a companion would have been nice. The second thing is actually something that had very obviously been noticed every since this process started, and that is people's reactions. There have been some very flattering things said about me during this, but it bothers me that it was such a big deal. Now don't get me wrong, I get the ramifications of all this, it's why I did it. Assuming nothing goes wrong, this person lives because of my actions. However it's not like I really did anything of note. I got stabbed with some needles (enough to make me look like a heroin addict), took a week of paid time from work that I wouldn't have otherwise used (and sick time resets each year, which for me is in seven weeks), and I underwent some discomfort. I truly don't get how this is even a decision.
I was gonna split these up, but I think we'll go right into everything that has happened since my return. I was considering taking things easy for a day or two while the drugs worked their way out of my system. That plan lasted about four minutes. By 2:30pm on Friday I was with Katie getting ready to enjoy margaritas and sunshine on the waterfront. Yeah, this was gonna be a good day. From there it was Azteca for happy hour with Zach, and then beer pong at the old house where we were joined by Randy and Bennett. Gotta say that with how much I was missing everyone while I was gone, this day was the answer. And then it was followed up by an amazing Saturday with the family for Gayle's birthday and a Moon Temple adventure that night. Darts, Backstreet Boys covers, obligatory Bon Jovi, my new favorite drink from there because it doesn't taste like death...good times. And then the attempt to out-do it all on Monday. I know that I got into a debate on relationships with Kevin (which later led to me being berated for, well I honestly don't know what), we had a bunch of people show up that haven't come out in forever, and it was all absolutely amazing, even after I had the last of my painful side-effects from the aforementioned drugs, pain so intense that it outdid the knee injury. Even though it made the end of the night suck, damn it was a helluva time.
The last thing on my mind is this. It has been a very intense six or seven weeks. Good, bad, other, so much has gone on. Basically everything since I started writing again last month is almost overwhelming when I look at it all. Six weeks since I took the test for a new job (for which interviews still haven't occurred). Five weeks since I sat in my car trying to wrap my mind around three of the most unexpected questions that have been asked of me (all of which I answered wrong). Four weeks since the loss of a friend (RIP Alvino, I wish I had known you better). Three weeks since the cabin. Two weeks since the marrow donation process took me out of town. One week since my return and the madness that has ensued since. So multiple trips out of town, more nights of debauchery then I can remember, friendships that have became much different than I would have expected a year ago, lives lost, lives saved, and soon enough, lives started (a child that will be raised entirely in the 470 warehouse, god help him). I was told recently that I am dramatic. Well to that I say only this. Life is dramatic. If you don't realize this, you're not seeing everything.
Gonna call it quits for now, was gonna touch on some other interesting conversations that have gone on recently, but I have birthday festivities to attend to. Happy Birthday Steve, love ya!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment