Back From The Hospital
First, thanks for the well-wishes. I'll be off my game for another week and won't reach 100 percent for about a month, but my fever's down and I can handle liquids, if not solids.
The hospital was a time of firsts for me: first extended hospitalization, first internment for a disease, first hospital shower, first use of controlled substances to control a cough, first rectal thermometer, and first suppositories.
On the last two, I figure that the Swedes are one step up on the whole Freudian oral, anal, sexual scale when it comes to medicine. Kinda makes me worry about getting sick in an even more medically advanced country.
The whole experience smelled pleasantly of Mary Douglass, from the countless holes being poked in me (most blood drawn, first IV drip) to the fixation on skin cleanliness and drugs through various boundaries (IV drugs are presumed to be best received).
I had a really strange dream last night. It was a follow-up on the previous night's dream (does anyone else have follow-up dreams over consecutive nights?). The first dream had been about the first day of school. For some totally non-budgetary reason, my school had ballooned into something resembling a giant shopping complex. I had an impossible time finding my classrooms (a surprisingly common dream for me), and had to ask some teachers for help finding my locker--which is funny because I hardly ever use my locker in real life. The teachers summarily laughed, consulted a clip board, and pointed me in the right direction. The next night/dream/school day, I was in the same building. (Another question: how many of you repeat locations in dreams and recognize them from previous dreams while you're still sleeping?) My school has this fickle attendence policy that carries mandatory grade reductions for every three tardies or one absence (recorded, unexcused). Anyway, I was searching for my locker and couldn't find it after 20 minutes. I could feel the A-. Compounding my troubles, there was nobody in sight to help me find my class. Just as the bell for second hour was about to ring, I woke up, sweating. I suppose that makes me really nerdy, right?
Swedish television is interesting. They spend less time on commercials, for one. The olympics included coverage of athletes from countries other than the US. They have tons of American shows, including several soap operas and The Simpsons, all of which are perturbingly subtitled. They even carry some of the crappy FOX reality shows.
That's enough for you to read for now.
Thanks again,
Michael
p.s. My one bit of sightseeing this afternoon was to visit a room named after the first (and hopefully not last) Barany to win the Nobel Prize. He was an ear researcher who won the Prize for putting people in chairs and spinning them until they vommitted. He's not directly related, but apparently he came from the same Hungarian town as my grandfather, who, as I explained to some of you, changed his name to Barany after the war. He got it from his maternal grandmother, who is possibly related to this Laureate.
The hospital was a time of firsts for me: first extended hospitalization, first internment for a disease, first hospital shower, first use of controlled substances to control a cough, first rectal thermometer, and first suppositories.
On the last two, I figure that the Swedes are one step up on the whole Freudian oral, anal, sexual scale when it comes to medicine. Kinda makes me worry about getting sick in an even more medically advanced country.
The whole experience smelled pleasantly of Mary Douglass, from the countless holes being poked in me (most blood drawn, first IV drip) to the fixation on skin cleanliness and drugs through various boundaries (IV drugs are presumed to be best received).
I had a really strange dream last night. It was a follow-up on the previous night's dream (does anyone else have follow-up dreams over consecutive nights?). The first dream had been about the first day of school. For some totally non-budgetary reason, my school had ballooned into something resembling a giant shopping complex. I had an impossible time finding my classrooms (a surprisingly common dream for me), and had to ask some teachers for help finding my locker--which is funny because I hardly ever use my locker in real life. The teachers summarily laughed, consulted a clip board, and pointed me in the right direction. The next night/dream/school day, I was in the same building. (Another question: how many of you repeat locations in dreams and recognize them from previous dreams while you're still sleeping?) My school has this fickle attendence policy that carries mandatory grade reductions for every three tardies or one absence (recorded, unexcused). Anyway, I was searching for my locker and couldn't find it after 20 minutes. I could feel the A-. Compounding my troubles, there was nobody in sight to help me find my class. Just as the bell for second hour was about to ring, I woke up, sweating. I suppose that makes me really nerdy, right?
Swedish television is interesting. They spend less time on commercials, for one. The olympics included coverage of athletes from countries other than the US. They have tons of American shows, including several soap operas and The Simpsons, all of which are perturbingly subtitled. They even carry some of the crappy FOX reality shows.
That's enough for you to read for now.
Thanks again,
Michael
p.s. My one bit of sightseeing this afternoon was to visit a room named after the first (and hopefully not last) Barany to win the Nobel Prize. He was an ear researcher who won the Prize for putting people in chairs and spinning them until they vommitted. He's not directly related, but apparently he came from the same Hungarian town as my grandfather, who, as I explained to some of you, changed his name to Barany after the war. He got it from his maternal grandmother, who is possibly related to this Laureate.
posted by Michael Barany at 12:35 PM
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