Insects and Their Diseases

I just read about insect bites on Web MD. It was a mistake. It lists all of the different types of diseases that one can get if bitten by an insect.

I'm too scared to click on the hyperlink for West Nile Virus--I may have all of the symptoms and then I would completely freak out. Is it better not to know?

Commercial Medicine

Last Monday I went for a bike ride through the forest preserve on the beautiful North Branch Trail. Even though I went during the middle of the day, when the mosquitoes are supposedly NOT out, I got a few mosquitoe bites. I actually wasn't worrying about them too much, even though I recently heard a terrible radio ad where a husband tells the story about how his wife was bitten by a mosquitoe, and then she jokingly says to him that she hopes she doesn't get West Nile Virus, and then she does get West Nile Virus and ends up in the hospital for 8 months half of which she spent unconscious. But then last night I found a bite on my leg that is surrounded by a 3-inch red welt! It doesn't itch very often, but I almost fainted when I saw it. I may call the doctor later today.

Are the Makeup Brushes Really Disinfected?

Today I stopped at Macy's to get a few things, including some new makeup at the cosmetics counter. Even as the woman was applying the lipstick I was wondering how sanitary this entire procedure actually is. Sure, they spray the brush with something right in front of you, and yes they spray the tube of lipstick too, but does that really work? What is in the spray? Is it water? Is it alcohol? Will I accidently ingest the alcohol that is left on the brush that is being swept over my lips? Now, I've accidently read Web MD news headlines this evening and there was a piece on two new strains of the Norovirus. Can the flu spread through makeup brushes? I googled this last phrase but did not find a conclusive answer.

Cans Bursting From Botulism

I bought these anxiety CDs so that Lucinda Bassett could convince me to eat the food I prepare in my own kitchen. But they haven't helped with that. They have made me realize, however, that I have generalized anxiety about a lot of things, so I suppose that is useful.

Today I read a story about cans bursting from botulism from the Associated Press.

Salami

For dinner tonight, I wanted to make anxiety-free lentil soup (it does not contain meat, dairy, or anything raw which means that it is a perfect dish), but I had to stay at work late. So I decided to stop by the store on my way home instead and get lunch meat and cheese for a sandwich. This way, I would have something for lunch tomorrow as well. The last time I purchased lunch meat, I got it from the Deli counter, (less chemical preservatives). However, when the person put the meat on the scale, I saw that the ham was not completely on the plastic sheet and was touching the scale directly. This was very disturbing, because I do not know how often the scale is cleaned, and I now had to worry about any other meats that touched the scale, not just my own ham. So if someone purchased some bad turkey and hour ago, my ham could become contaminated. I decided to purchase pre-packaged Genoa salami. Earlier today, I had a conversation with a friend at work who told me that this is the type of lunch meat she buys. She says that it lasts an entire week. I do not eat any deli poultry, such as turkey or ham, as that is more likely than a salted or smoked meat to make me sick. My friend is a very talented cook. She actually cooks 3 full meals a day, from scratch, even though she has a part-time job, and is a PhD student. She also is very health-conscious, not in the way that someone who wants to loose weight is "health-conscious", but in that she believes whole foods are better, chemical preservatives are not good for the system, etc. I always trust what she tells me about food. (Even though she told me that the salami will last for 5 days, I will only eat it for 3, just to be SAFE). So after I got home, I opened the package, and pulled out two pieces of salami. They were really oily. More oily than I ever remember salami being. First, I called my Baba, and casually told her that my salami was very oily to see if she said something to me like, "Oh, really? That usually means it's bad and I wouldn't eat it." However, her response to my comment was, "You should eat some soup, too." This was interesting, as my friend from work and I were just talking yesterday about how good it is for the digestive system to eat soup with lunch and dinner. So then I called my husband who was still at work, and he said that I should eat the salami. So, I ate 1/2 of my sandwich, and then took the salami off and ate the second 1/2.

Medical Eye Machine

Although I had only been here for 11 days, I had occasion to seek the services of Mercy Hospital's Eye Physicians and Surgeons on Friday, May 25th. This is the same hospital I mentioned in my earlier post. I mentioned that its proximity to my apartment was a major plus to this apartment.

On Thursday night, after washing my face, I noticed suddenly that my right eye looked very red. The left eye was fine. After 15 minutes, it still had not gone away. After another 15 minutes it still had not gone away. Because it didn't hurt, I decided to go to bed, and then check on it in the morning. If it were still red in the morning, then I would go to an optometrist's office just to make sure that it wasn't anything very serious. In the middle of the night, I woke up, most likely from being uncomfortably hot in the apartment. My stomach didn't great either. I went to the bathroom, and then started to notice that I felt like there was something in my eye--sort of like a contact that has a piece of dirt on it or is not sitting right on the lens. Because I was so tired, I was unable to panic, and wanted to fall asleep so that I would not start worrying about my stomach, so I went back to bed and luckily fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning, I got up to check my eye, and it was still red, but less so, but the feeling of dirt or dust in the eye was getting worse, to the point where it was becoming something I could not stop thinking about. I thought I might have some sort of eye infection, so I decided to go to an optomitrist's office. I considered the fact that an optometrist may be able to diagnose and eye infection better than most people, but would not be able to write me a perscription for an antibiotic. I then considered going to student health, but knew that they would not have the proper equiptment to check for an abrasion, so at around 9:00 AM, I finally decided that I must see an opthamologist.

A quick search on yellowpages.com did not reveal any in the city, which were within 3 miles, and I was started to get more and more uncomfortable. I finally decided to call the hospital to see if they had an eye clinic.

I went to the web page for Mercy Hospital, which listed a link to Mercy On Call--a phone service staffed by nurses to help you figure out which kind of doctor you need to see, and give general advice. It even had an e-mail address which one could use! I called and was greeted on the other end by a real live nurse. This experience alone was very reassuring. She suggested I see an opthamologist, and then offered to connect me to the Eye Physicians and Surgeons office, and even told me that she would see if they would squeeze me in that day. She quickly patched the call through and they were able to see me within 45 minutes.

The opthamologist I saw was very calming. She started by taking a look at the eye with a medical eye machine, and said that she saw something long and stringy in my eye. I could not believe it when she told me, as I was unable to see it when I was checking my eye. Before I could object, she quickly put in numbing drops as she said, "I'm just going to put in some numbing drops" and then she took a long cotton swab and swabbed it out. Then, she showed it to me. She said she saw something else and so I had to go through it again. The second piece of debris was an eyelash.

WARNING: Next part is anatomically graphic.

She then took my top eyelid and flipped it inside out. I jumped back and it flipped back down. I was very upset. I asked her if she really needed to do that and she said yes, because she needed to see if there was anything else in the eye. So after I took a moment, and asked her how long it would take, she did it. I was weak in the knees. When she was done, she asked me if I wanted a glass of water. Of course I didn't. It was done. What would I need water for?

WARNING EXPIRES.

The, she took a look at the left eye, and said that an eyelash on the bottom had turned in. I saw her take a metal tweezer-like instrument which I thought she was going to use to move the eyelash back down, although I was wondering why she would use metal so close to my eye instead of, let's say, a cotton swab. Somehow, I did not question her, and suddenly I felt a sharp small pain. She had actually plucked that eyelash out!

Finally, she said I could leave, and that I did not have an abrasion or an infection. She gave me some drops to put in my right eye in case to ease irritation from the debris which was in there, and from her swabbing.

I was very proud of myself for the rest of that day.

Location Location Location

Despite the aging condition of this studio apartment, which I am slowly getting more and more used to, the location is superb. The used book store is a block away, there is a gas station on the corner, and I can actually see the hospital from my kitchen window. I sit on the side of the table which faces it.