Wounds, Staples, Papa, me laying down at Mayo

September 21, 2023:

Ok so this morning, first thing in the morning, before I even took the meds, I threw up in a plastic bag I had by my bed. It’s funny, before I did that I was even hoping that I’d be able to get it done before I took the meds, since I was feeling a bit nauseous, and I did it. Success! I also had an absolutely terrible night’s sleep. I first woke up at like 12:30am, then again at 3:35am, and also at 4:40am. Texted myself those numbers because I knew there was not a chance in hell I’d remember them. Then at like 5am I woke up and stayed generally awake, partly because my head was hurting a bit. So anyways, then I told my dad about the throw up situation, and we decided that I should just try to take my meds anyways. So what I did is I had them at 6:30am with two 6g fat yogurts. And then he drove me to Mayo Clinic. First things first, when I got there, I immediately threw up again, at like 8:15am. I’m not gonna put a picture of it in here because that’s just gross. Then, I went in to get a CT scan, and a nurse named Drew was the one who walked me in. Didn’t even write that down, just remembered it. Then, after the CT scan, we went in to see the doctors. The woman who checked me in was actually named Enya, and she said that she sometimes gets called Anya. Dr. Flanagan was unfortunately in surgery, so I actually met with a doctor named Kerry Lucas at first. Then, after waiting for like an hour, Dr. Marsh came in too. Tragically I didn’t take any notes this whole day, so I’m not quite sure what happened. I mean, when I was seeing Dr. Lucas, she left me with an aide who took out the staples that were in my head since the last surgery. I’ve got a picture of those too. Also got a picture of Papa sitting in the room, that was an extra BeReal. It also shows the sunglasses I was wearing because I felt a little light-sensitive. We also took the bandaids off the stomach wounds, and she told me I could shower when I got home and even wash the area a bit, which I’d been avoiding doing until now. After we finished our stuff at Mayo, I was still feeling a bit nauseous so we didn’t eat any lunch on the road. Then, at night, I decided to cancel my shift at Open Door tonight, because even though Dr. Marsh told me I could drive now, we’ve decided to wait like a week more until I have a meeting with Dr. Flanagan at Mayo and get an MRI. I also didn’t feel quite up to doing a shift tonight, so I just removed myself on VicNet. Oh, and then at night, instead of doing Open Door, I joined an art meetup for people with chronic illnesses that I’d learned about from the Our Odyssey group I’m in. Frankly in the art meetup, I didn’t actually have the materials yet because they haven’t arrived yet, but when I do, I feel like it might be enjoyable. Unfortunately, it’s always on Thursday, a night where I could be a translator at Open Door. Oh, and we’ve also decided that I’ll just continue staying at my dad’s house for the next week, which is not fun at all, but probably a good idea, especially because last time I moved out after staying here, I felt like I should have stayed longer. Oh and the other exciting thing today is that I’ll take my first shower with the staples out! So I’m about to do that now, wish me luck. Ok, so today was a day absolutely FULL of medical issues. On the drive down to Mayo I was thinking a ton that my medical issues are actually my biggest problem, and the true reason I’m struggling to find happiness. Days like today really prove that.

Grateful things: This is quite hard today. I guess I’m grateful that my dad went and bought me a new razor to shower with, since I’m not at my house and the last time, I showered there, and thought I’d be living there again before the next shower. Oh well, things change. Suppose I’m also grateful that I have a team of very advanced medical doctors working on my case. I posted on r/tbi and r/depression_help about all this too.