so on saturday, i went to an exclusive private lingerie show at a club. we got hookups through one of our baller coordinators. one of the enticing things was free drinks for girls and cheap drinks for guys...but they ran out quickly. so we left for a bit and found a local bar where i took the coolest shotglass i've ever seen. souvenir for me!
went back to the club around midnight to see the lingerie show...drool drool drool girls were so hot haha. never really been to a fashion show outside of the CMU ones and well they're not quite like the real thing i imagine. the show was pretty short--around 20 minutes but it was all good :]
anyway, we were walking home and there were about 8 of us...and i saw a group of 4 guys walking in our direction. i didn't think nothing of it until i saw one of them lunge and grab katie's purse. she managed to get it away and the guy kept moving past...but then he tried the same thing w/ becca who was a few feet behind me. we ran and tried to help her and when i got there, after a few seconds of wrestling, the guy pushed me back and reached inside his coat yelling. he pulled something out and i thought it was a knife or a gun and i was like 'shit im dead.' but it was nothing, he was bluffing. so we threw him to the ground, told him to fuck off and kept going.
im so glad he didnt actually have a weapon...or that only one of the 4 guys actually tried to rob the girls cuz if all 4 had tried, we would've been outnumbered. that was a scary moment and it definitely reminded me that we all had gotten too comfortable and complacent in cape town. crime is definitely still a reality and walking aroudn the city is still way more dangerous than walking around phx or pittsburgh at night.
which brings me to tonight. monday.
i was walking home from a bar with a friend and about to cross an intersection. we hear a screech and a bang and we were like wtf? then we see a car screech into the intersection, brake really hard and try to take a hard left towards us. it was going too fast and went straight into the front windows/doors of the corner restaurant where i often eat lunch at carlucci's. i mean holy shit it must've been going like 100km/h or so. we got closer to the intersection and saw what the 1st screech was.
another car had broken the median, crashed into a palm tree and done so with so much speed and force that it had completely uprooted the tree and the tree was on the other side of the road. the car was stuck vertically at about 120 degrees so the rear bumper was further forward than the forward bumper. a girl was lying on the asphalt screaming and i could see bone sticking out of her left leg, which looked to be her femur. i could see her kneecap was busted and her left leg was completely swollen along w/ some bleeding everywhere. amazingly, in less than a minute literally, ambulances and police were there.
it had to have been some sort of car chase or race or something...the speeds they were going at jesus. i mean, brakes didn't hold and one car uprooted an entire palm tree. probably were drunk too.
i really wish i had my camera to take pictures but it got busted during sandboarding...looks like ill have to buy another one :(
anyway, the lesson is...dont ever drink and drive. i did my fair share of that back in high school and my early years of college, but no more. fucking crazy man. i guess seeing a car accident happen in real life is one of those life-changing moments.
i leave this place on friday and will be home on saturday...SADNESS!
i also shaved off the end of my pinky nail cutting an onion that was softer than i predicted. the knife went straight through like butter and cut my nail. a little bit more off and i would've sliced my finger clean off...which means no guitar :(
man, what a crazy week haha...and its only monday
Monday, July 27, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
im getting published!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D
today was my last day of work...kinda sad actually. i've grown pretty close to dr. zeier and we promised to stay in touch and she would update me on the progress of the research project i started...which means that when it's done, my name will be listed as a coauthor of the paper! SCHWEEET!!!
so now i have one week left in cape town. what to do? besides the obvious: gettin D. but really, i need to have some sort of wholesome activity, lest i feel like im wasting my days away. no pun intended. HAHAHA...
so now i have one week left in cape town. what to do? besides the obvious: gettin D. but really, i need to have some sort of wholesome activity, lest i feel like im wasting my days away. no pun intended. HAHAHA...
Saturday, July 18, 2009
cowabunga!
today i went sandboarding and ATV-riding on the sand dunes of atlantis, south africa. i've finally found the lost city :]
anyway
the guides picked us up at 9:30am after a freaking crazy night for me that involved half a bottle of jack, stripping down to my spongebob squarepants boxers, donning my giant 3-ft sombrero and running into the room where 15-20 girls were celebrating their "girl's night out", and party-boying a few of them.
we arrived in atlantis, which is about 45 minutes outside cape town...looking back, we could see the whole city with the ever-picturesque table mountain in the background. seriously, so many postcard-worthy views every day here.
sandboarding is exactly the same as snowboarding...except it's on sand. they even give you snowboard shoes and a snowboard. except speeds are a little slower due to the higher friction so we had to wax the boards before every run so they would go faster. it was freaking sweet...unfortunately, the runs only lasted like 5 seconds or so cuz the dunes werent THAT big. but the worst part was definitely climbing back up a sand dune...felt like quicksand fo sheezy.
i was a little nervous cuz i suck at snowboarding, but i improved rapidly so i was happy. i even did some board grabs and jumps [sweet action pics of course]...extreemmmeeeee. im going snowboarding all the time back home.
i only wiped out 3 times the whole day! once was just cuz i did...the second time was trying to land a jump and the third was..well.
while we were waiting for the ATVs, jeff and i built a sandcastle at the bottom of a dune, which quickly turned into a sand table mountain since it was way easier. but it still had the castle walls haha. so anyway, after making it, we decided to board down straight into it and destroy it. i went first, hit the wall and broke it and then hit our sand table mountain...my front end got stuck a bit, but that was all it took for me to flip up and over the whole thing and eat sand as the back of my board absolutely demolished 45 minutes of hard labor. it was so sweet. so that was my 3rd and last wipeout. not bad :]
the ATV's came, and that was actually even MORE fun than sandboarding. sandboarding was just too much work climbing up the hills, waxing the boards and stuff for 5 seconds of mediocre speed. but the ATV's....wooooow. so awesome. vroom vroooom.
we were actually about to go down the first dune, which i swear was like a 70degree decline and jeff was in front of me. we were goin really slowly braking and stuff...but he braked too much and flipped over his ATV and it landed on him. i was right behind him and saw him get destroyed so naturally i freaked the fuck out. but i made it down the dune OK--turns out you're not supposed to brake so much going down..if anything, get some speed going down.
we were going all over the dunes in these ATV's and i couldn't help noticing how fucking beautiful it was. a few plants here and there, but the sand was completely white. sitting on an ATV hearing the engine roar behind you going 60km/h and the cool wind blowing into your helmet, feeling the shaking of it on your legs, feeling the sand from the guy in front of you spray you in the face and seeing a vast OCEAN of pure, white, soft snow..i mean sand. it was that clean-looking and white. the softest sand i've ever felt in my life.
man...i've pretty much done most everything i wanted to do here--except for a safari and maybe paragliding. but i figure i can find a place to paraglide in the states, since i'm REALLY strapped for moolah now. mama oh is noooot going to be happy..
but whatever. T.I.A.
anyway
the guides picked us up at 9:30am after a freaking crazy night for me that involved half a bottle of jack, stripping down to my spongebob squarepants boxers, donning my giant 3-ft sombrero and running into the room where 15-20 girls were celebrating their "girl's night out", and party-boying a few of them.
we arrived in atlantis, which is about 45 minutes outside cape town...looking back, we could see the whole city with the ever-picturesque table mountain in the background. seriously, so many postcard-worthy views every day here.
sandboarding is exactly the same as snowboarding...except it's on sand. they even give you snowboard shoes and a snowboard. except speeds are a little slower due to the higher friction so we had to wax the boards before every run so they would go faster. it was freaking sweet...unfortunately, the runs only lasted like 5 seconds or so cuz the dunes werent THAT big. but the worst part was definitely climbing back up a sand dune...felt like quicksand fo sheezy.
i was a little nervous cuz i suck at snowboarding, but i improved rapidly so i was happy. i even did some board grabs and jumps [sweet action pics of course]...extreemmmeeeee. im going snowboarding all the time back home.
i only wiped out 3 times the whole day! once was just cuz i did...the second time was trying to land a jump and the third was..well.
while we were waiting for the ATVs, jeff and i built a sandcastle at the bottom of a dune, which quickly turned into a sand table mountain since it was way easier. but it still had the castle walls haha. so anyway, after making it, we decided to board down straight into it and destroy it. i went first, hit the wall and broke it and then hit our sand table mountain...my front end got stuck a bit, but that was all it took for me to flip up and over the whole thing and eat sand as the back of my board absolutely demolished 45 minutes of hard labor. it was so sweet. so that was my 3rd and last wipeout. not bad :]
the ATV's came, and that was actually even MORE fun than sandboarding. sandboarding was just too much work climbing up the hills, waxing the boards and stuff for 5 seconds of mediocre speed. but the ATV's....wooooow. so awesome. vroom vroooom.
we were actually about to go down the first dune, which i swear was like a 70degree decline and jeff was in front of me. we were goin really slowly braking and stuff...but he braked too much and flipped over his ATV and it landed on him. i was right behind him and saw him get destroyed so naturally i freaked the fuck out. but i made it down the dune OK--turns out you're not supposed to brake so much going down..if anything, get some speed going down.
we were going all over the dunes in these ATV's and i couldn't help noticing how fucking beautiful it was. a few plants here and there, but the sand was completely white. sitting on an ATV hearing the engine roar behind you going 60km/h and the cool wind blowing into your helmet, feeling the shaking of it on your legs, feeling the sand from the guy in front of you spray you in the face and seeing a vast OCEAN of pure, white, soft snow..i mean sand. it was that clean-looking and white. the softest sand i've ever felt in my life.
man...i've pretty much done most everything i wanted to do here--except for a safari and maybe paragliding. but i figure i can find a place to paraglide in the states, since i'm REALLY strapped for moolah now. mama oh is noooot going to be happy..
but whatever. T.I.A.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
hm...
my friend jessi just found out today that she fractured her sternum kloofing--the 72ft one.
man lucky that wasn't me...but i guess she's lucky it isnt worse, not that i think what happened to her was good at all. i just walked away with a sore ass, thighs, arms, hands, feet and neck. i'd rather have all that than a fractured sternum heh
well i did what i could...i practically gave her my entire bottle of advil :]
<3 jessi
today was a more depressing day at work. most of the patients i saw today were sad cases...and there were a lot who cried. i always feel a little uncomfortable around crying ppl b/c idk if i should try and say something or just sit in silence--there's a time and place for both yea?
anyways, there was this lady who was doin real well on the ARV's...but her husband was a meth addict and didn't do anything. she was the sole source of income and he would sleep for days on meth, then wake up and be really hungry and eat everything she had shopped for, so that when she came back from work tired and hungry, he had eaten everything. there she was fighting for her survival and her meth addict husband was doing nothing in life. the doctor and her were talking in afrikaans and i guess the emotional stress broke, cuz she just started crying. sigh.
oh but that mint-stealing little girl came back to visit! that made me really happy--cute as ever, but i don't think she remembered me :(
also, dr. zeier had to give the sad news that another patient was indeed, going to die very soon...2 weeks left or so in fact. i can't imagine giving anyone news like that.
thats why i dont think i could ever be an oncologist, or open heart surgeon or whatnot. i have faith in my motor skills to perform things like that [thanks video games!] but the emotional aspect of it would be miserable. "sorry betty, but we couldn't save jim...and even though it probably wasn't my fault and there was nothing we could do i know you'll blame me forever for it but please try not to sue me." man that would blow golf balls through a garden hose. which is very very hard i would imagine. im convinced that in order to be a doctor, you need to be able to maintain some distance with ppl and have that emotional detachment so you don't completely explode. unless you don't have emotions. think about it, charles manson would've made a great doctor if not for the whole...enjoying killing people thing.
what would you do with 2 weeks left?
i guess you could go the sappy route and tell everyone you loved them blahblahblah and spend your time w/ loved ones...or you could do everything on your bucket list and go out doing things like...jumping off a bridge or a cliff haha
or maybe do a week of each.
[i would definitely do ecstasy actually, seeing as how i have one in my fridge at home...]
can i get arrested for that?
but otherwise, life is great. there's a french med student and a dutch med student in the clinic as well, doing a similar thing, except they're actually in med school in their home countries and are just here for clinical experience.
as for work itself, i finished phase I and II of my research project. dr. zeier wants to add more parameters to analyze before i leave, which is fine by me since i think i've figured out how to work statistica. but she also started me on another project involving tuberculosis. we'll see how far i get.
which brings me to my final point i guess...i've gotten pretty tight with my supervisor, the other doctors and the nurses in the clinic. and i've only got two weeks left. for god's sake, i'm going to dinner at my boss's house! it sucks i have to leave when i've finally gotten settled in not just at home, but at work.
i miss everyone back home--phoenix and pittsburgh. but i could use a month..or two..or three here. that being said, i AM excited to start school this fall in grad school--we'll see how that pans out.
man lucky that wasn't me...but i guess she's lucky it isnt worse, not that i think what happened to her was good at all. i just walked away with a sore ass, thighs, arms, hands, feet and neck. i'd rather have all that than a fractured sternum heh
well i did what i could...i practically gave her my entire bottle of advil :]
<3 jessi
today was a more depressing day at work. most of the patients i saw today were sad cases...and there were a lot who cried. i always feel a little uncomfortable around crying ppl b/c idk if i should try and say something or just sit in silence--there's a time and place for both yea?
anyways, there was this lady who was doin real well on the ARV's...but her husband was a meth addict and didn't do anything. she was the sole source of income and he would sleep for days on meth, then wake up and be really hungry and eat everything she had shopped for, so that when she came back from work tired and hungry, he had eaten everything. there she was fighting for her survival and her meth addict husband was doing nothing in life. the doctor and her were talking in afrikaans and i guess the emotional stress broke, cuz she just started crying. sigh.
oh but that mint-stealing little girl came back to visit! that made me really happy--cute as ever, but i don't think she remembered me :(
also, dr. zeier had to give the sad news that another patient was indeed, going to die very soon...2 weeks left or so in fact. i can't imagine giving anyone news like that.
thats why i dont think i could ever be an oncologist, or open heart surgeon or whatnot. i have faith in my motor skills to perform things like that [thanks video games!] but the emotional aspect of it would be miserable. "sorry betty, but we couldn't save jim...and even though it probably wasn't my fault and there was nothing we could do i know you'll blame me forever for it but please try not to sue me." man that would blow golf balls through a garden hose. which is very very hard i would imagine. im convinced that in order to be a doctor, you need to be able to maintain some distance with ppl and have that emotional detachment so you don't completely explode. unless you don't have emotions. think about it, charles manson would've made a great doctor if not for the whole...enjoying killing people thing.
what would you do with 2 weeks left?
i guess you could go the sappy route and tell everyone you loved them blahblahblah and spend your time w/ loved ones...or you could do everything on your bucket list and go out doing things like...jumping off a bridge or a cliff haha
or maybe do a week of each.
[i would definitely do ecstasy actually, seeing as how i have one in my fridge at home...]
can i get arrested for that?
but otherwise, life is great. there's a french med student and a dutch med student in the clinic as well, doing a similar thing, except they're actually in med school in their home countries and are just here for clinical experience.
as for work itself, i finished phase I and II of my research project. dr. zeier wants to add more parameters to analyze before i leave, which is fine by me since i think i've figured out how to work statistica. but she also started me on another project involving tuberculosis. we'll see how far i get.
which brings me to my final point i guess...i've gotten pretty tight with my supervisor, the other doctors and the nurses in the clinic. and i've only got two weeks left. for god's sake, i'm going to dinner at my boss's house! it sucks i have to leave when i've finally gotten settled in not just at home, but at work.
i miss everyone back home--phoenix and pittsburgh. but i could use a month..or two..or three here. that being said, i AM excited to start school this fall in grad school--we'll see how that pans out.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
kloofing + abseiling = orgasmerrific
kloofing is jumping off cliffs. literally. well into water of course. otherwise, that'd be suicide. some might still consider it suicide, considering a bad landing or landing on rocks below would be like SHPOING SPLAT.
wtf.
anyway, we left at like 7am (ugh) to the office where we would get our wetsuits and board the bus. there were 12 of us. lets see...me, scott, bill, katie, alli, jesse, brett, tyler, lauren, becca, laurie and another katie. it was about an hour to an hour and a half scenic drive there...and when we arrived, they totally fed us breakfast. sweet. delicious maple syrup, it was so sticky.
anyway, we began our hike out from the lodge HQ and i guess i was expecting another mountain hike, but it was more of an up-and-down a gorge. aptly named skeleton gorge. but despite its name, it was gorgeous, as usual. nothing in south africa ISNT gorgeous. it was a rather short hike, about 45 minutes to an hour i think. could be wrong, since none of us took our cell phones cuz they were about to be DOMINATED by water.
we arrived, suited up into wetsuits and climbed the first rock above the waterfall...the water was really clean and fresh-looking too. the only bad part about the day was how freaking cold it was, especially after coming out of the water. also, walking barefeet on sharp rocks and climbing up a mountain is not fun--my feet feel like the skin's been flayed off and then dipped in 12M hydrochloric acid.
but the first jump was, as the guy said, only 7m. 21-22ft. doesn't sound like much and we thought it'd be no problem, but when you're standing on that ledge looking down into the water, not knowing if the bottom is deep enough [even though they assure you it is], you have second thoughts. and it was actually WAY more nerve-wracking than bungee jumping, cuz i knew that was 100% safe...and you have a huge cord attached to you. in this, you're trusting yourself to not slip as you jump out, trusting yourself to jump out far enough so you don't land on the trees or another rock below, and trusting yourself to dive into the water properly so you don't end up paralyzing yourself.
anyway, we all went and it was awesomeeeee but sure enough, some of the taller guys touched the bottom as they hit the pool. ouch. and the water was holy shit freezing. on my first jump, i landed with my arms still extended out so my palms hit the water too...and then it felt like my hands had been flayed and then dipped in 12M hydrochloric acid.
we then climbed up to a higher ledge, which was 10m. 3m, or 9ft doesn't sound like much of an increase...but man it is. also nerve-wracking as hell because the previous ledge was RIGHT beneath us, and if you didn't jump out far enough, it looked like you would just smash into it. anyway, we did that--my jump was better this time. no major injuries...so far. it was really cool, and i was feeling confident so i did the 10m one again.
we then packed up again, and continued the hike a little further up to a taller waterfall. the first jump we did there was 18m. BIG step up...and this time, i landed slightly wrong..instead of my legs going completely in first, my butt broke the surface as well and man. it still hurts to sit. but otherwise, it was awesome.
it was so nice to jump into an ice-cold pool with a raging waterfall next to you after you were all hot and sweaty in the wetsuit from trying to climb the rocks barefoot. we even went tarzan at one point and were walking on branches! some of the people opted out of the 18m jump understandably...it was scary.
but we weren't done. we swam across the lake to another waterfall and started climbing that one. this one was the big mama. it was 22m tall, which we calculated to be 71.5 ft. that's seven fucking stories tall.
you know those movies where the super agent spies like jump out of a window or cliff into water to escape the bad guys? or vice versa i suppose. well i can totally do that now :-D
standing at the very edge of that was probably the single most terrifying moment of my life...standing at the edge of the bloukrans bridge 216m high was nothing compared to that moment. i prayed that i wouldn't land wrong and break anything. i got up there, gathered myself for a few seconds and then jumped............and free-falled for about 3 seconds and then boom.
i felt like my spine had been bent in, my neck had been whiplashed and my head had been hit with a sledgehammer and my ass didn't like being rocked by the water for a second time.
i came up and for a brief millisecond, thought i had seriously injured myself...but i wiggled all my limbs and seemed ok. my head was spinning though and it hurt royally.
someone got a sweet video and pictures of me jumping though, so i'm stoked...will be up on facebook as soon as i get home! :]
out of the 12 of us, only 6 of us did the final 22m jump.
jesse was the last one to go and she landed really really bad. im talking like halfway between a standing and sitting position, 45 degrees on her back. we were all cheering her on and when she hit, it was like "oh shit no." she came up and didn't look good and the guides had to swim over to her and get her out cuz she couldn't breathe or move. we thought she'd been paralyzed, but just got the wind knocked out of her...either way, i think she's going to a doctor soon just to be safe. needless to say, as awesome and fun as kloofing was, it's really fucking dangerous.
but thats what makes it so sicknasty i guess :]
we ate lunch there, which the lodge had kindly provided...chicken and mayo sandwiches. afterwards, we all strapped into a harness and got helmets to go abseiling, or rappelling down a rock face. i was the first one to go and i had never done it before. i ended up failing miserably and slamming into the wall and prickly bushes a few times. i thought the helmets were dumb but im glad i had one cuz i felt the helmet hit the wall. towards the end, i got the hang of it and was moving pretty quickly, so i was happy :] definitely more laid back and chill and secure than kloofing, but i preferred the cliff jumping. so moist.
after that, the wind picked up really badly and the waterfall was like blowing back at us it was tiiiight. we hiked back, where they fed us dinner and complimentary drinks [booze]. drove home and here i am...im drained but i think we're going out to see a movie.
kloofing and bungee jumping were by far, the two most exhilarating moments of my life. even the rush of being on stage in a band can't really compare. i want to relive those moments again...but no money. :(
wtf.
anyway, we left at like 7am (ugh) to the office where we would get our wetsuits and board the bus. there were 12 of us. lets see...me, scott, bill, katie, alli, jesse, brett, tyler, lauren, becca, laurie and another katie. it was about an hour to an hour and a half scenic drive there...and when we arrived, they totally fed us breakfast. sweet. delicious maple syrup, it was so sticky.
anyway, we began our hike out from the lodge HQ and i guess i was expecting another mountain hike, but it was more of an up-and-down a gorge. aptly named skeleton gorge. but despite its name, it was gorgeous, as usual. nothing in south africa ISNT gorgeous. it was a rather short hike, about 45 minutes to an hour i think. could be wrong, since none of us took our cell phones cuz they were about to be DOMINATED by water.
we arrived, suited up into wetsuits and climbed the first rock above the waterfall...the water was really clean and fresh-looking too. the only bad part about the day was how freaking cold it was, especially after coming out of the water. also, walking barefeet on sharp rocks and climbing up a mountain is not fun--my feet feel like the skin's been flayed off and then dipped in 12M hydrochloric acid.
but the first jump was, as the guy said, only 7m. 21-22ft. doesn't sound like much and we thought it'd be no problem, but when you're standing on that ledge looking down into the water, not knowing if the bottom is deep enough [even though they assure you it is], you have second thoughts. and it was actually WAY more nerve-wracking than bungee jumping, cuz i knew that was 100% safe...and you have a huge cord attached to you. in this, you're trusting yourself to not slip as you jump out, trusting yourself to jump out far enough so you don't land on the trees or another rock below, and trusting yourself to dive into the water properly so you don't end up paralyzing yourself.
anyway, we all went and it was awesomeeeee but sure enough, some of the taller guys touched the bottom as they hit the pool. ouch. and the water was holy shit freezing. on my first jump, i landed with my arms still extended out so my palms hit the water too...and then it felt like my hands had been flayed and then dipped in 12M hydrochloric acid.
we then climbed up to a higher ledge, which was 10m. 3m, or 9ft doesn't sound like much of an increase...but man it is. also nerve-wracking as hell because the previous ledge was RIGHT beneath us, and if you didn't jump out far enough, it looked like you would just smash into it. anyway, we did that--my jump was better this time. no major injuries...so far. it was really cool, and i was feeling confident so i did the 10m one again.
we then packed up again, and continued the hike a little further up to a taller waterfall. the first jump we did there was 18m. BIG step up...and this time, i landed slightly wrong..instead of my legs going completely in first, my butt broke the surface as well and man. it still hurts to sit. but otherwise, it was awesome.
it was so nice to jump into an ice-cold pool with a raging waterfall next to you after you were all hot and sweaty in the wetsuit from trying to climb the rocks barefoot. we even went tarzan at one point and were walking on branches! some of the people opted out of the 18m jump understandably...it was scary.
but we weren't done. we swam across the lake to another waterfall and started climbing that one. this one was the big mama. it was 22m tall, which we calculated to be 71.5 ft. that's seven fucking stories tall.
you know those movies where the super agent spies like jump out of a window or cliff into water to escape the bad guys? or vice versa i suppose. well i can totally do that now :-D
standing at the very edge of that was probably the single most terrifying moment of my life...standing at the edge of the bloukrans bridge 216m high was nothing compared to that moment. i prayed that i wouldn't land wrong and break anything. i got up there, gathered myself for a few seconds and then jumped............and free-falled for about 3 seconds and then boom.
i felt like my spine had been bent in, my neck had been whiplashed and my head had been hit with a sledgehammer and my ass didn't like being rocked by the water for a second time.
i came up and for a brief millisecond, thought i had seriously injured myself...but i wiggled all my limbs and seemed ok. my head was spinning though and it hurt royally.
someone got a sweet video and pictures of me jumping though, so i'm stoked...will be up on facebook as soon as i get home! :]
out of the 12 of us, only 6 of us did the final 22m jump.
jesse was the last one to go and she landed really really bad. im talking like halfway between a standing and sitting position, 45 degrees on her back. we were all cheering her on and when she hit, it was like "oh shit no." she came up and didn't look good and the guides had to swim over to her and get her out cuz she couldn't breathe or move. we thought she'd been paralyzed, but just got the wind knocked out of her...either way, i think she's going to a doctor soon just to be safe. needless to say, as awesome and fun as kloofing was, it's really fucking dangerous.
but thats what makes it so sicknasty i guess :]
we ate lunch there, which the lodge had kindly provided...chicken and mayo sandwiches. afterwards, we all strapped into a harness and got helmets to go abseiling, or rappelling down a rock face. i was the first one to go and i had never done it before. i ended up failing miserably and slamming into the wall and prickly bushes a few times. i thought the helmets were dumb but im glad i had one cuz i felt the helmet hit the wall. towards the end, i got the hang of it and was moving pretty quickly, so i was happy :] definitely more laid back and chill and secure than kloofing, but i preferred the cliff jumping. so moist.
after that, the wind picked up really badly and the waterfall was like blowing back at us it was tiiiight. we hiked back, where they fed us dinner and complimentary drinks [booze]. drove home and here i am...im drained but i think we're going out to see a movie.
kloofing and bungee jumping were by far, the two most exhilarating moments of my life. even the rush of being on stage in a band can't really compare. i want to relive those moments again...but no money. :(
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
nostalgia and exotic foods!
so today [wednesday] my boss picked me up and she took me to her house for a bit. i toured her house and was pleasantly surprised.
both her and her husband are state doctors, meaning their salaries are pitiful compared to private doctors. the state doctors recently went on strike last week (its over now) to start negotiations w/ the government about salary...dr. zeier has been working for 17 years in the same hospital and only gets 1% increase in salary each year. that's fucking ridiculous. that would be a crime in the states.
anyway, i didn't think they would be living the high life...but their home was really nice. wooden floors covered w/ expensive middle eastern carpets. appparently, her husband is an avid collector of anything and everything, so there were all these rugs everywhere. he also collected aged whiskies, which im sure is a constant temptation to drink...and he also collected license plates from around the world. he had all 50 US ones haha and was working on canada's.
anyway, we picked up her youngest daughter, beatrice, who's 12 going on 13. we drove to the main campus of the university of stellenbosch to pick up the other daughter, caroline, who is 17.
caroline wants to be a violinist...so as we were sitting at a bistro in the middle of quaint little college-town stellenbosch, i started reminiscing about my childhood and those 14 years of violin i did.
hearing her talk about orchestra [PSG and bob and all the amazing ppl i met through that], the 8-hour long festival rehearsals [hello all-state], the chamber music ensembles [alright i have to drop mr. haggard's name and high school here] and my private teacher dr. skoldberg all came to mind. and although those were some of the most miserable times of my life [0 hour orchestra w/ mr. haggard ugh], in retrospect, i was good at it and sorta miss it.
caroline turned out to be studying lalo's symphonie espagnole, which i played my sophomore year of high school. ah the memories. the opening 4 A's in ascending octaves? yea. sweet. we bonded over our love for the tchaikovsky and sibelius violin concertos (which are still some of my favorites). saint-saens, dvorak and scherezade by someone i forget all came into discussion. turns out they're a very musical family--caroline plays violin, beatrice plays cello and dr. zeier played piano and classical guitar.
anyway, after lunch, caroline had to go back to her chamber music summer camp thing so the rest of us went to a cheetah reserve, where i got to pet one!! it was absolutely incredible. they're beautiful animals and so so soft. there's only about 7500 left in the world though...sadness.
after the cheetahs, we visited an eagle sanctuary where they had all these species of eagles being rehabilitated from injury. i saw peregrine falcons, which are the fastest diving birds in the world (100+mph!), vultures, owls and HUUUUUUGE eagles. im talking like wingspans taller than me. i got to hold this eagle named wally though, who weighed about 1.5kg, which doesn't seem like all that much. but when he's on your arm for about 5 minutes, it starts to get heavy haha. it was a strange experience--i felt like i was bonding with this bird staring into its eyes and i couldnt help noticing how sharp its beaks and claws were...if it wanted to, it could blind me or probably even kill me. but it was so good-natured; it let me stroke it everywhere and when i put my hand in front of it, it even pruned my hand for me :]
the trainer told me to feel its leg muscles, which were strong enough to crush a rabbit's skull upon impact. eagles can spot prey at 2-3km, which is equivalent to us reading a newspaper at 300m. wow.
anyway, that was it for the day. i think i may steal back my violin from my brother and see if i can't bring some of my old skills back. after all, without it, i wouldn't be anywhere near as good as i am at the guitar yea? ;)
this weekend, we're planning on going abseiling, cliff jumping and kloofing. SWEET
---------
tonight, for dinner, we went to mama africa [which i went to on my very first night here and had ostrich]. well this time, i increased my repertoire...
i ordered a big dish that had kudu, ostrich, crocodile and springbok on it. as i said before, ostrich tastes exactly like a very lean steak...and so do kudu and springbok to be honest. although springbok had a slightly different taste, but it was very subtle. i rather liked it.
the CROCODILE however was like woa. i had heard it tasted like catfish so i was really reluctant to try it cuz i hate seafood...but upon eating it, its consistency and taste were both akin to chicken, which makes sense...since alligator is supposed to be exactly like chicken. although, the texture was slightly more 'gummmy' if that makes sense...
the african band playing did renditions of "my heart will go on" and "somewhere over the rainbow" lol. celine dion african style.....woooo
wow. what a day :]
oh and if you dont know what a kudu or springbok is...here you go. if you dont know what an ostrich or crocodile is, then you're just retarded.
springbok.
kudu.
ostriches are really dangerous animals apparently...well there you go :]
both her and her husband are state doctors, meaning their salaries are pitiful compared to private doctors. the state doctors recently went on strike last week (its over now) to start negotiations w/ the government about salary...dr. zeier has been working for 17 years in the same hospital and only gets 1% increase in salary each year. that's fucking ridiculous. that would be a crime in the states.
anyway, i didn't think they would be living the high life...but their home was really nice. wooden floors covered w/ expensive middle eastern carpets. appparently, her husband is an avid collector of anything and everything, so there were all these rugs everywhere. he also collected aged whiskies, which im sure is a constant temptation to drink...and he also collected license plates from around the world. he had all 50 US ones haha and was working on canada's.
anyway, we picked up her youngest daughter, beatrice, who's 12 going on 13. we drove to the main campus of the university of stellenbosch to pick up the other daughter, caroline, who is 17.
caroline wants to be a violinist...so as we were sitting at a bistro in the middle of quaint little college-town stellenbosch, i started reminiscing about my childhood and those 14 years of violin i did.
hearing her talk about orchestra [PSG and bob and all the amazing ppl i met through that], the 8-hour long festival rehearsals [hello all-state], the chamber music ensembles [alright i have to drop mr. haggard's name and high school here] and my private teacher dr. skoldberg all came to mind. and although those were some of the most miserable times of my life [0 hour orchestra w/ mr. haggard ugh], in retrospect, i was good at it and sorta miss it.
caroline turned out to be studying lalo's symphonie espagnole, which i played my sophomore year of high school. ah the memories. the opening 4 A's in ascending octaves? yea. sweet. we bonded over our love for the tchaikovsky and sibelius violin concertos (which are still some of my favorites). saint-saens, dvorak and scherezade by someone i forget all came into discussion. turns out they're a very musical family--caroline plays violin, beatrice plays cello and dr. zeier played piano and classical guitar.
anyway, after lunch, caroline had to go back to her chamber music summer camp thing so the rest of us went to a cheetah reserve, where i got to pet one!! it was absolutely incredible. they're beautiful animals and so so soft. there's only about 7500 left in the world though...sadness.
after the cheetahs, we visited an eagle sanctuary where they had all these species of eagles being rehabilitated from injury. i saw peregrine falcons, which are the fastest diving birds in the world (100+mph!), vultures, owls and HUUUUUUGE eagles. im talking like wingspans taller than me. i got to hold this eagle named wally though, who weighed about 1.5kg, which doesn't seem like all that much. but when he's on your arm for about 5 minutes, it starts to get heavy haha. it was a strange experience--i felt like i was bonding with this bird staring into its eyes and i couldnt help noticing how sharp its beaks and claws were...if it wanted to, it could blind me or probably even kill me. but it was so good-natured; it let me stroke it everywhere and when i put my hand in front of it, it even pruned my hand for me :]
the trainer told me to feel its leg muscles, which were strong enough to crush a rabbit's skull upon impact. eagles can spot prey at 2-3km, which is equivalent to us reading a newspaper at 300m. wow.
anyway, that was it for the day. i think i may steal back my violin from my brother and see if i can't bring some of my old skills back. after all, without it, i wouldn't be anywhere near as good as i am at the guitar yea? ;)
this weekend, we're planning on going abseiling, cliff jumping and kloofing. SWEET
---------
tonight, for dinner, we went to mama africa [which i went to on my very first night here and had ostrich]. well this time, i increased my repertoire...
i ordered a big dish that had kudu, ostrich, crocodile and springbok on it. as i said before, ostrich tastes exactly like a very lean steak...and so do kudu and springbok to be honest. although springbok had a slightly different taste, but it was very subtle. i rather liked it.
the CROCODILE however was like woa. i had heard it tasted like catfish so i was really reluctant to try it cuz i hate seafood...but upon eating it, its consistency and taste were both akin to chicken, which makes sense...since alligator is supposed to be exactly like chicken. although, the texture was slightly more 'gummmy' if that makes sense...
the african band playing did renditions of "my heart will go on" and "somewhere over the rainbow" lol. celine dion african style.....woooo
wow. what a day :]
oh and if you dont know what a kudu or springbok is...here you go. if you dont know what an ostrich or crocodile is, then you're just retarded.
springbok.
kudu.
ostriches are really dangerous animals apparently...well there you go :]
Saturday, July 4, 2009
america....fuck yeah!
wooo uncle sam!
so the plan was to hike table mountain, which, if you didn't know, is like the trademark landmark [haha] in cape town. seriously, look a picture of it up its incredible. or look here.
there's many routes up, but we decided to hike the longest one, which takes about 4-5 hours. indeed, we started at 11:30am and didn't finish until around 4-4:30pm
it was the single most exhausting activity i've ever done in my life, but it was also the most refreshing, invigorating and beautiful 4 hours of my life.
the first part of the hike was your typical mountain forest landscape with a stream/small waterfalls running down. the steps turned really steep about 20 minutes in though--way more steeper than anything in lion's head or any mountain i've hiked period.
after about an hour up like this [which was the hardest part of the whole hike], i'd say we were about halfway up vertically to the highest point of table mountain. but we decided to take another route to see the table mountain reservoirs, which serves as the pool for cape town's water supply. from there, it was a short hike up this one hill which had literally no path to take. i'd say the angle was about 70-75 degrees steep and there was no solid ground to step on; it was all loose dirt. terrifying but amazingly, only a few of us slipped a few times. another thing that struck me about the whole experience was how natural they kept it. none of the plants/foliage were trimmed...meaning even when we were walking on a wider path, the flora would be all in our way and i felt like an explorer in the african jungles...definitely got scraped a looooooooot.
side note: african plants are PRICKLY jesus christ.
but we made it to the reservoirs...and i was completely shocked. it was like a mini-beach. it was a giant lake and the shores were nothing but soft, white sand much like you would find on a beach. like really? a beach on top of a mountain? kickass. so we took a break there and kept hiking. we went through rivers, waterfalls and caves and after another 2 hours later, emerged on the very top of table mountain, which is about 1090m or so high at its highest point. the wind was freaking crazy at the top. i'd jump down to a lower rock but the wind was so strong it would shift me a few inches so i'd land painfully. i actually banged my knee up pretty bad...
but the view was obviously incredible. i could see cape point (the very southern trip of africa as previously mentioned), all of cape town and the surrounding cities for miles to see. absolutely amazing. it was strangely serene, standing at the very top of a mountain looking out at the landscape with the sun's reflection gleaming off the atlantic and indian oceans as the winds howled past.
once we got to the top, the hard part of the hike was over and it was a relatively flat, level trek to the cable car/restaurant area. it was so exhausting we weren't about to hike down the mountain. and again i'm really serious--the whole way it was so fucking steep. and they don't trim down the path at all for you. if you have to climb a vertical rock face, you're doing it. if you're wading through foliage that is chest high and full of prickly spiny plants, you're doing it. if you're jumping down a bunch of wet rocks as a waterfall roars past you and into a slippery cave with no support and one misstep means you fall down a huge ravine, you're doing it.
but after 4-4.5 hours, we finally made it to the cable car area and took it down [after a delicious double burger and a beer of course]
----------
afterwards, we showered and rested a bit...then headed out to a manor a few minutes away where some interns lived for the 4th of july braai (BBQ). good food, good music, good ppl...we all face-painted american flags, played some pong and ate delicious grilled food and then hit the town for some drinks.
we went to a bar called neighbourhood, where after ordering like 5 drinks in 20 minutes for myself, i decided i was really tired from the hike and my knee was killing me. so for a final big bang, i gathered a bunch of ppl to do some "red, white & blue" shots.
it's a series of 3 shots in succession. red is vodka/grenadine, white is vodka or peach schnapps and blue is rum/blue curacao. we started chanting USA USA USA but these other guys were shittin on america haha. figures. the rest of the world really don't like us.
which brings me to now. sitting at home, completely exhausted from the hike and drinking. all in all, a great way to celebrate america's 233rd birthday.
happy birthday america...and as much as i love south africa, america will always be my home. fuck yea.
cheers mate.
so the plan was to hike table mountain, which, if you didn't know, is like the trademark landmark [haha] in cape town. seriously, look a picture of it up its incredible. or look here.
there's many routes up, but we decided to hike the longest one, which takes about 4-5 hours. indeed, we started at 11:30am and didn't finish until around 4-4:30pm
it was the single most exhausting activity i've ever done in my life, but it was also the most refreshing, invigorating and beautiful 4 hours of my life.
the first part of the hike was your typical mountain forest landscape with a stream/small waterfalls running down. the steps turned really steep about 20 minutes in though--way more steeper than anything in lion's head or any mountain i've hiked period.
after about an hour up like this [which was the hardest part of the whole hike], i'd say we were about halfway up vertically to the highest point of table mountain. but we decided to take another route to see the table mountain reservoirs, which serves as the pool for cape town's water supply. from there, it was a short hike up this one hill which had literally no path to take. i'd say the angle was about 70-75 degrees steep and there was no solid ground to step on; it was all loose dirt. terrifying but amazingly, only a few of us slipped a few times. another thing that struck me about the whole experience was how natural they kept it. none of the plants/foliage were trimmed...meaning even when we were walking on a wider path, the flora would be all in our way and i felt like an explorer in the african jungles...definitely got scraped a looooooooot.
side note: african plants are PRICKLY jesus christ.
but we made it to the reservoirs...and i was completely shocked. it was like a mini-beach. it was a giant lake and the shores were nothing but soft, white sand much like you would find on a beach. like really? a beach on top of a mountain? kickass. so we took a break there and kept hiking. we went through rivers, waterfalls and caves and after another 2 hours later, emerged on the very top of table mountain, which is about 1090m or so high at its highest point. the wind was freaking crazy at the top. i'd jump down to a lower rock but the wind was so strong it would shift me a few inches so i'd land painfully. i actually banged my knee up pretty bad...
but the view was obviously incredible. i could see cape point (the very southern trip of africa as previously mentioned), all of cape town and the surrounding cities for miles to see. absolutely amazing. it was strangely serene, standing at the very top of a mountain looking out at the landscape with the sun's reflection gleaming off the atlantic and indian oceans as the winds howled past.
once we got to the top, the hard part of the hike was over and it was a relatively flat, level trek to the cable car/restaurant area. it was so exhausting we weren't about to hike down the mountain. and again i'm really serious--the whole way it was so fucking steep. and they don't trim down the path at all for you. if you have to climb a vertical rock face, you're doing it. if you're wading through foliage that is chest high and full of prickly spiny plants, you're doing it. if you're jumping down a bunch of wet rocks as a waterfall roars past you and into a slippery cave with no support and one misstep means you fall down a huge ravine, you're doing it.
but after 4-4.5 hours, we finally made it to the cable car area and took it down [after a delicious double burger and a beer of course]
----------
afterwards, we showered and rested a bit...then headed out to a manor a few minutes away where some interns lived for the 4th of july braai (BBQ). good food, good music, good ppl...we all face-painted american flags, played some pong and ate delicious grilled food and then hit the town for some drinks.
we went to a bar called neighbourhood, where after ordering like 5 drinks in 20 minutes for myself, i decided i was really tired from the hike and my knee was killing me. so for a final big bang, i gathered a bunch of ppl to do some "red, white & blue" shots.
it's a series of 3 shots in succession. red is vodka/grenadine, white is vodka or peach schnapps and blue is rum/blue curacao. we started chanting USA USA USA but these other guys were shittin on america haha. figures. the rest of the world really don't like us.
which brings me to now. sitting at home, completely exhausted from the hike and drinking. all in all, a great way to celebrate america's 233rd birthday.
happy birthday america...and as much as i love south africa, america will always be my home. fuck yea.
cheers mate.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
oh we're halfway there...
yesterday/today marks the halfway point of my trip here...
i'm sad i only have one more month left because it's been the most incredible month of my life. but i also feel like i've been here forever--im getting to know the roads, cities etc even without driving.
nothing new in the exciting entertainment/activities department...but work was cool today too.
so i've finished phase 1 of my research, which was in all actuality, mostly excel spreadsheets and data entry and manipulation. yawn. just tedious stuff...i had about 8000 patient entries to wade through.
after organizing them into an acceptable format, i proceeded to calculate CD4 count differences for each and every single patient--diabetic and non diabetic.
which took another couple of days. and a very very sore left wrist. (harhar)
so now i'm in phase 2, which is the statistical analysis part. they use a program called statistica here, which i am completely unfamiliar with. but i have to figure it out and get some matched-pair ANOVA tests done.
after that though, i'm pretty much done w/ what dr. zeier had originally planned for me to do. since i have a month left, she gave me an option to either continue w/ this HIV/diabetes project or move onto a tuberculosis project. i opted to get more in-depth with one project, so we'll see what happens!
today during clinic hours, one particular patient was really interesting. he was 26 years old and had been a crystal meth addict for 3 years. meth (or commonly called 'tik' here) is actually rather prevalent.
my geeky science guy is coming out...but methemphetamine, the addictive drug as we know it, is chiral--meaning that it has two isomers, an L and D form. the L form is harmless and used i over the counter inhalers i think, while the D form is the addictive drug. the only difference b/w the two structurally is how the molecules are arranged around one chiral center. [side note: larium, the malaria drug i took for my dominican republic trip was similar. one isomer was harmless, the other was bad]
but anyway, meth addicts have really poor teeth and are generally very emaciated. the patient fit the textbook case of what a meth addict looked like. but he was here to turn his life around after finding out he had HIV.
but meth wasn't the only interesting thing about him...he had a huge stab wound that had scarred over (sorry for the graphic reference, but it really did look like vaginal lips) on his left arm, which his 'friend' had apparently given him. what a great friend.
underneath his right arm on his side, he had an 'underwater drain' procedure, which is basically using a tube to release fluid from the chest cavity.
another lady had abscisses underneath her armpits caused by either a fungal or bacterial infection i don't remember. dr. zeier didn't know what specifically caused it, but she suspected it was shaving because women got it far more than men. but they were gross man. huge ugly scars under the armpits.
i'm seeing lots of cases of oral thrush and candidasis all over the body in general, which are fungal infections. physiologically, it's not as shocking as some of the other things i've seen. they usually manifest in red patches on the skin and tongue while another form of candidasis looks white and fuzzy in the mouth.
--------
while HIV is the #1 epidemic here in south africa, tuberculosis is the second. so much so that 75% of HIV patients have had or have TB.
it's not a problem at all in the US, so i didn't know much about it at all. but it's a very difficult disease to treat, especially in tandem with HIV. the treatment regimen can take months to complete and during that time, one is immunocompromised and especially susceptible to other afflictions.
so these poor patients generally have to balance TB and ARV drugs, which is horrible b/c all have nasty side effects. the stab wound/meth addict guy i mentioned earlier also had TB and when i took the stethoscope to listen, instead of a clear breathing like you're supposed to hear, i heard what soudned like paper being crumpled. bad news.
to make things worse, he also had a copulmonary heart issue...because of his severe TB condition and difficulty breathing, the right side of his heart had to work much harder to pump blood into the lungs to get oxygenated, thus making it larger. also bad news. hello high blood pressure and artherosclerosis?
AND! he had deep vein thrombosis in his right arm, which is a blood clot that went loose.
what a shitshow. felt so sorry for the guy. that's complete rock bottom if i've ever seen one, and there he was in the clinic, trying to turn his life around. and he was accompanied by his mom; she was so cute.
--------
the saddest part of the day came when two female patients came in (separately). one was young, in her mid-20's and the other was about 50. the younger one had a boyfriend and lived with her mom because she quit her job after the HIV infection. she was 19 weeks pregnant. she had told her bf about the HIV but not her mom for fear of repercussions.
dr. zeier explained to me that in this culture, the parents are very strict and authoratative, just like asian culture. so she was terrified of telling her mom and taking the ARV's home. but if she didn't take the anti-retroviral drugs, then her baby would most likely be infected, so she wanted to start them immediately. the doctor told her she needed to confront her mom and tell her the truth. the other problem was, she had TB and some drug interaction protocol made it where it would be dangerous for her to take both in conjunction at that time. nevertheless, the woman was in tears and pleaded for dr. zeier to prescribe her the HIV drugs, saying that her baby was more important than her.
the other older woman had 5 kids and didn't know if her kids were infected because she hadn't gotten them tested. the doctor urged her to get them tested because knowing sooner would be better, and she started to cry too.
but ANYWAY, after all that sad stuff...it's my friend jesse's 21st tonight. so we're going outtttttttttttt peace
...woa oh living on a prayer!!
i'm sad i only have one more month left because it's been the most incredible month of my life. but i also feel like i've been here forever--im getting to know the roads, cities etc even without driving.
nothing new in the exciting entertainment/activities department...but work was cool today too.
so i've finished phase 1 of my research, which was in all actuality, mostly excel spreadsheets and data entry and manipulation. yawn. just tedious stuff...i had about 8000 patient entries to wade through.
after organizing them into an acceptable format, i proceeded to calculate CD4 count differences for each and every single patient--diabetic and non diabetic.
which took another couple of days. and a very very sore left wrist. (harhar)
so now i'm in phase 2, which is the statistical analysis part. they use a program called statistica here, which i am completely unfamiliar with. but i have to figure it out and get some matched-pair ANOVA tests done.
after that though, i'm pretty much done w/ what dr. zeier had originally planned for me to do. since i have a month left, she gave me an option to either continue w/ this HIV/diabetes project or move onto a tuberculosis project. i opted to get more in-depth with one project, so we'll see what happens!
today during clinic hours, one particular patient was really interesting. he was 26 years old and had been a crystal meth addict for 3 years. meth (or commonly called 'tik' here) is actually rather prevalent.
my geeky science guy is coming out...but methemphetamine, the addictive drug as we know it, is chiral--meaning that it has two isomers, an L and D form. the L form is harmless and used i over the counter inhalers i think, while the D form is the addictive drug. the only difference b/w the two structurally is how the molecules are arranged around one chiral center. [side note: larium, the malaria drug i took for my dominican republic trip was similar. one isomer was harmless, the other was bad]
but anyway, meth addicts have really poor teeth and are generally very emaciated. the patient fit the textbook case of what a meth addict looked like. but he was here to turn his life around after finding out he had HIV.
but meth wasn't the only interesting thing about him...he had a huge stab wound that had scarred over (sorry for the graphic reference, but it really did look like vaginal lips) on his left arm, which his 'friend' had apparently given him. what a great friend.
underneath his right arm on his side, he had an 'underwater drain' procedure, which is basically using a tube to release fluid from the chest cavity.
another lady had abscisses underneath her armpits caused by either a fungal or bacterial infection i don't remember. dr. zeier didn't know what specifically caused it, but she suspected it was shaving because women got it far more than men. but they were gross man. huge ugly scars under the armpits.
i'm seeing lots of cases of oral thrush and candidasis all over the body in general, which are fungal infections. physiologically, it's not as shocking as some of the other things i've seen. they usually manifest in red patches on the skin and tongue while another form of candidasis looks white and fuzzy in the mouth.
--------
while HIV is the #1 epidemic here in south africa, tuberculosis is the second. so much so that 75% of HIV patients have had or have TB.
it's not a problem at all in the US, so i didn't know much about it at all. but it's a very difficult disease to treat, especially in tandem with HIV. the treatment regimen can take months to complete and during that time, one is immunocompromised and especially susceptible to other afflictions.
so these poor patients generally have to balance TB and ARV drugs, which is horrible b/c all have nasty side effects. the stab wound/meth addict guy i mentioned earlier also had TB and when i took the stethoscope to listen, instead of a clear breathing like you're supposed to hear, i heard what soudned like paper being crumpled. bad news.
to make things worse, he also had a copulmonary heart issue...because of his severe TB condition and difficulty breathing, the right side of his heart had to work much harder to pump blood into the lungs to get oxygenated, thus making it larger. also bad news. hello high blood pressure and artherosclerosis?
AND! he had deep vein thrombosis in his right arm, which is a blood clot that went loose.
what a shitshow. felt so sorry for the guy. that's complete rock bottom if i've ever seen one, and there he was in the clinic, trying to turn his life around. and he was accompanied by his mom; she was so cute.
--------
the saddest part of the day came when two female patients came in (separately). one was young, in her mid-20's and the other was about 50. the younger one had a boyfriend and lived with her mom because she quit her job after the HIV infection. she was 19 weeks pregnant. she had told her bf about the HIV but not her mom for fear of repercussions.
dr. zeier explained to me that in this culture, the parents are very strict and authoratative, just like asian culture. so she was terrified of telling her mom and taking the ARV's home. but if she didn't take the anti-retroviral drugs, then her baby would most likely be infected, so she wanted to start them immediately. the doctor told her she needed to confront her mom and tell her the truth. the other problem was, she had TB and some drug interaction protocol made it where it would be dangerous for her to take both in conjunction at that time. nevertheless, the woman was in tears and pleaded for dr. zeier to prescribe her the HIV drugs, saying that her baby was more important than her.
the other older woman had 5 kids and didn't know if her kids were infected because she hadn't gotten them tested. the doctor urged her to get them tested because knowing sooner would be better, and she started to cry too.
but ANYWAY, after all that sad stuff...it's my friend jesse's 21st tonight. so we're going outtttttttttttt peace
...woa oh living on a prayer!!
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