Acrochallenge! But First, a Little Story

Hello, blogees. Thanks for granting me a one day stay of blogxecution.

See, it all started Saturday. Well, actually, we could say it started on Christmas Day, the day I got The Crud. In case you missed it, you might want to go down to Friday's blog, "This Way and That," and read about how I finally broke down and went to the doctor, since it's coming up on two months and The Crud really seems to like my body because he's taken up permanent residence there. I could finally take it no more, and headed off to see Smokin' Dr Javier. Who didn't smoke during my visit, but I wasn't in his office, either, which is where he always lights one up.

He took one listen at my chest, said, "Jesus H Christ!" sent me for an x-ray and blood count, and loaded me up on free antibiotics. I thought that was quite nice of him, since these are apparently the superest of super duper drugs, none stronger, and they were extremely expensive. I was happy with my free drugs, and headed off for the tests.

I took one of the pills Friday afternoon (one a day, the dosage), and by Friday night I was thinking I had a little more energy, but that could have been because it was Friday night and I didn't have to think about life for a couple of days. I had a nice Friday Chill, beat Mr M at two games of Scrabble (don't get excited, he's beaten me many times since), went to bed late, and got up Saturday morning.

I was feeling a little listless, loafed around till early afternoon, and thought I'd better eat a small lunch so I could take my next round of SuperDuperin. Which I did.

I was sitting in the Comfy Chair. Which became not so comfy at all, because within fifteen minutes of taking the drug, I started to lose it. First, my heart started to race. Beating fast and hard. I pressed on my neck, I labored my breathing to where it would be very even, I told myself, "Anxiety! Anxiety! Nothing's wrong!" It went on for about thirty minutes. I thought, "Hey! Liquid! That'll calm me down." I got up to go to the kitchen, and nearly hit the floor.

I was dizzy and disoriented. I sat back down quickly, and noticed that my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I was still mulling around anxiety as the cause, though there was no reason for it other than a feeling of dread over the x-ray results. Then I noticed the oddest thing I may have ever felt.

Patches of my skin were burning. Burning like I was laying them on a hot stove. It went from shoulder to abdomen to left buttock to right thigh. As soon as I'd notice it one place, it moved somewhere else.

And it was at that point I really started to get hinky.

I kept remembering my little freak out in June that sent me to the emergency room and cost me over $2500 of my own money, so I was loathe to dial those three magic numbers. Instead, I called Mom. I told her not to panic, but what was happening, and that I basically just needed someone on the other end of the phone. She didn't even have to talk (but you know moms, they'll talk), just be at the other end of the phone.

She, bless her heart, kept me occupied by talking about any number of things, and while I was talking, I noticed that I was scratching. My chest and neck itched so much I could have scratched till I bled and still not satisfied the itch. Somewhere during the conversation, something hit me. I remembered that in her last hospital stay, where she was coming down with The Crud, she was given the same drug I was now taking. And somewhere it seemed like the instructions (which you don't get when you get samples) said to drink as much water as possible when taking the drug. Maybe I did need liquid. I asked her about it - she said she couldn't remember.

I asked her to bear with me while I headed to the computer. I shuffled along, phone in one hand, the other holding onto things so I wouldn't fall over. I got to the computer and looked up the drug. And boy, what I found out.

First of all, the drug's actual website had a huge disclaimer about how it was possible to have torn muscles and tendons while taking SuperDuperin. That was certainly odd, I thought, but I still never found anything about drinking liquids, so I kept investigating.

And it was then that I found a forum just chock full of pissed-off people who'd taken SuperDuperin. There were a myriad of side effects, but many people reported exactly what I was going through. Dizziness, heart palpitations, shaking, disorientation, itching, hives, burning skin. Suicidal thoughts! (Thank heavens I never got there.) A couple of people even said this all happened the second day they took the drug!

There were other things that freaked me out, like people just walking along or lifting the smallest of objects, and having torn achilles tendons and rotator cuffs! Made me glad I didn't decide earlier to queue up Wii Tennis and start banging away. I might be in traction now!

Oddly enough, even though I felt like shit, I was a bit comforted. At least I knew what was going on. I continued to breathe evenly, and after about four hours the heartbeat was fairly normal and the hands weren't shaking. I wasn't burning, but still itching like crazy. No hives that I could see, just itching.

I checked back in with Mom and Dad several times during the day and night, just letting them know I was still OK. They kept me talking, and laughing, and you know, sometimes Mom and Dad just rock.

I slept on the couch Saturday night, and slept better than I was expecting to. However, Sunday - I was useless. My legs were heavy, I had no energy, and I never even got out of my pajamas. And I still itched.

Needless to say, I didn't take my Sunday dosage of SuperDuperin.

Today I took back my samples and got something more conventional. Smokin' Dr Javier saw me come in and grabbed me to give me my test results. The chest x-ray was fine, and my blood count was on the high end of normal for infection, but still normal. My blood pressure was down from Friday, too.

I blame no one for this. SDJ heard my chest and figured I needed the strongest antibiotic there was. I told him up front I'd never had a reaction to any drug. I hadn't. I guess just some people can tolerate things and some can't. And this one wasn't for me.

But it was some weekend, let me tell you.

OK, now that I'm better, let's get to acromania.

As you may know, the Winter Olympics are now underway. I'm mulling my usual "Events I'd Like To See in the Olympics," but I thought a good acro would be to see what events you'd like to see. So that's our acrotopic. "Winter Olympics Events I'd Like To See."

All the rules are the same. Everyone gets three entries to come up with the best acronym they can that matches not only the topic above, but also the letters below. The letters are randomly drawn from the acrobasket. The acrobasket would like to see Sitting Naked on a Block of Ice as an event. Then tomorrow night at 10:00 est I shall be reading the entries and naming the winners.

So, the topic - "Winter Olympics Events I'd Like To See." The letters -

T B R S

So there. Salute the flame and acro!

Betland's Olympic Update:
- I've discovered that all the events I like at the Olympics are the ones that are really short. Short track, freestyle moguls, figure skating.... If they last more than five minutes, I'm out.