Little-Wonder.Net

25 September, 2008

So I overestimated myself, so what?

23:25:49 | Daily Life | writebacks (3)

This will be the very, very last health update here. For future updates on my progress, health wise - it’s elsewhere.

I wish to maintain happy and cheerful karma on this blog. (As far as possible.)

Plus, I’m pretty sure that people typically prefer happier entries rather than having to listen to someone complain.

—————-

No symptoms for one and a half days. A pretty good sign, right?

So, I cleaned the windows yesterday afternoon (because they were getting pretty dusty). Experienced a short bout of dizziness after that. But otherwise, I held out for the rest of the day without any major symptoms.

Even more of a good sign, right?

So, I decided to push myself to the limits this evening and brisk-walked from Orchard Scotts (where I had to pick up at item) to Centrepoint Shopping Centre where I was supposed to meet my mum - which was about four bus stops away and approximately a fifteen minute walk.

Surprisingly, I held out well throughout the walk - which amazed me because I still have the stamina despite having stopped all vigorous activity since all this cardiac/sickness hoo-ha began three months ago.

Joy was short lived.

Plagued with giddy spells after that walk and came close to passing out completely three times this evening. Heart palpitations were strong and remained that way for two hours straight. Counted my heart rate using my watch at one point and found it to be 150 bpm - another episode of tachycardia.

Mum had to carry my bags and laptop for me since I could barely stand on my own.

Then, I had to endure a round of nagging about not knowing my own limits and overdoing things when I am nowhere close to recovering completely.

Mum wanted to drive me to the A&E, which I refused.

But I still feel that it’s better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all.

Ah, fuck it.

23 September, 2008

The curly haired wonder

23:03:47 | School Life | writebacks (7)

Quite a bit of hoo-ha has been going on at my school about this security guard.

Let’s call her Curly - because of her err … curly hair.

Of all the buildings she had to be assigned too, we were unfortunate enough to have her assigned to the Information Systems building … and having to bear with her crap too.

She shouts and screams at students for no apparent reason, barges into group study rooms when she sees a boy and a girl studying or working on a project together (and seated far apart, may I add) and accusing them of involving in hanky panky (WTF?!?). To make things worse, she is rude to all the professors, the VIPs who visit our school … and even to our dean.

Well, what made things slightly bearable was the presence of another Indian security guard (who has been around far longer than Curly did) at our building. She’s really nice, and is generally well-liked by everyone in the school.

And for the record, she can’t stand Curly as well. How she survives working on her daily 12-hour shifts is completely beyond me.

Anyway, Curly went missing for the past week or so from our building and it was rejoice galore. Rumours were going around about her being fired, having been transferred out or having dropped dead due to excessive shouting (?!?).

And the littl’uns who have lost their student passes needn’t fear entering the building via the main gantries (since they can easily stroll through the visitor’s gantry without fear of being yelled at) … at least for the past few days.

I’ve spotted Curly at the school’s administration building towards the end of last week, which somewhat solved the mystery of where she went. Somehow, she had been transferred there - which I learnt later, was due to excessive complaints from the Information Systems student and faculty community who couldn’t tolerate her nonsense any further.

Well, the administration block suited her - I feel.

She can terrorize all the admin staff there and they wouldn’t give a hoot since they get a kick out of terrorizing us students anyway.

And yes, that’s the background story.

——————

TODAY:
A coupla’ buddies and myself were on our way to our good ol’ Information Systems block this afternoon when the topic of Curly came up - and they filled me in on the details I had apparently missed out on.

Basically, the other two security guards who handled the afternoon shifts with Curly at the administration block couldn’t stand her either and they had requested for her to be transferred elsewhere again.

Since the higher authorities had no other place to thrust Curly upon, they had kindly asked our remaining friendly Indian security guard as to whether Curly could resume her duties at the Information Systems block. For obvious reasons, our Indian security guard said ‘no’.

To conclude, the latest update we’ve heard as of this afternoon was that Curly will be banished from the school entirely, forever and ever amen.

Needless to say, we were in pretty high spirits as we approached the main entrance of our school …

…

…

… until we saw Curly standing by the gantries.

With her trademark crossed-arm (think Sir Stamford Raffles) pose.

With her stern, non-smiling face.

And with … that curly hair we’ve learnt to spot from a distance. (It’s become a conditioned reflex to dodge each time we see that hair anywhere.)

Immediately, the three of us turned to each other and yelped: “WHAT THE FUCK IS SHE DOING BACK HERE?!?”

Ladies and gentlemen, to be continued.

20 September, 2008

Further updates, updates!

17:42:19 | Daily Life | writeback (1)

Mmmph.

Apparently, I do not only have sinus tachycardia, but atrial tachycardia (a specific form of supraventricular tachycardia) as well - based on the in-depth report I received in the mail today.

(When I saw the initial report at the clinic last week, my eyes caught the word ‘tachycardia’ and I automatically assumed it was the mildest form (sinus tachycardia). Must. Not. Make. Assumptions. Next. Time.)

The rate ….. is characteristically 100-160 beats/min …. difficult to distinguish from a sinus tachycardia. Diagnosis is important as it may lead to dilated cardiomyopathy if left untreated.

I don’t know what dilated cardiomyopathy is and I can’t be bothered to find out more about it because I am sick of medical terms, but it still sounds like major W-T-F to me.

But at least atrial tachycardia by itself is generally not life threatening.

Oh and yes, here’s the oh-so interesting 24-hour ECG graph summary obtained from last Friday’s hook-up to that silly monitor.

No guesses for how many hours I slept that night.

And those little ‘peaks’ in heart rate during the period where I was asleep indicated the times I woke up to toss and turn due to sheer discomfort.

As for my progress over the past one week - I would say that the past three days (today included) hasn’t been too good. The dizziness, fainting spells and heart palpitations are still out in full force and I am struggling to ignore it all as I go about my daily life.

Bah.