Hooked On Junk

Well they're cutting me off cold turkey.  Just like the long line of rock n' rollers before me, I have decided it's time for me to take the needles out of my bruised arms and step back into the real world.  No, I'm not quitting crack...today I had my last IV! 

Over the past 10 days, I've done about 15 IV's of various healing fluids that I hope will get me back on the road to recovery.  A part of me is going to miss sitting in the IV lounge every day with three hours filled reading books, listening to music and gazing at the other patients.  There is always this inquisitive voyeuristic urge to ask my fellow lounger's what their reason for being there is but you realize that "Hey what ya in for?" works just about as well in a doctor's office as it does in prison; it's none of my business, and I didn't want to get messed up in the wrong gang.  Those IV patients can get pretty nasty.  Before you know it, you're trading cigarettes for one more milligram of Vitamin C just to get them off your back.  It's a tough life for a junkie. 

Aside from seeing various regulars, the girl who looked so near death that she put my problems into perspective, John my faithful standby who sat adjacent to me and talked about his flirtation with dance back in the 70's, and the constant stream of newbies dealing with smoke related illnesses (since Montana is still on fire), I'm really going to miss my doctor.  It was my first introduction to Naturopathy and it's something I could see myself keeping with in the future.  Every treatment seems so personalized and rather than treating just the symptoms, she really is helping me get to the base of my mono and the burnout that probably led up to it.  The fall is still a mysterious creature looming on the horizon and I'm having my ups and downs emotionally dealing with the fact that I might not be ready to return by then.  The IV's have blasted my system so much that over the next few days I'm bound to feel a little rough but I can only hope that the coming weeks bring some sort of relief from this increasingly annoying illness.  It will take a while for my system to settle down, but the idea is that this will fight the virus once and for all!  I might be back and kicking before I know it.  Back when I first found out I had mono, I thought at most it would be a month I was out but here I am four months later and still feeling ill.  It's difficult feeling sick around the clock (to varying degrees) but I have to have faith that it will lift soon enough.  "Patience, Young Skywalker."

Perhaps the one thing I really won't miss is the nurse who had such difficulty getting the needles in my veins.  Whereas my doc barely seemed to pinch me before I was done and hooked up to the IV, the nurse kept "blowing" the needle as she stabbed (perhaps a bit dramatic) me repeatedly, claiming she was just nervous because the doctor was watching her.  I couldn't help but wonder if I should vocalize my wish that she stop using me as her voodoo doll and refrain from needling me until the doc had turned her head, but I just kept a smile on my face and hummed a song as my life as a pin-cushion continued.  "I just need one more do-over!" (Jennifer?)

Walking out of the office today I began to get nostalgic about my past two weeks there but then I realized I still have a few more days of bruising on my forearm to show off.  Every time I hand over cash at a register I'll still have people thinking "Hey!  He's just like Amy Winehouse."  Little do they know I'm just a vitamin junkie. 

Comments

[tonya]

Well, one thing about this illness is that with all the time off from dancing, your writing is really improving. This is really good -- especially the likening the IV patients to junkies -- very funny, Matt!

[M]

Thanks Tonya! Will all the posts about me being sick over the past four months, I've GOT to start getting a little more creative ;-) Thank you for the compliment. Always nice to hear something sweet when you're having a bad day!

[Larry]

At what point will you know how effective this treatment has been?

[Barbara]

Oh Matt, I can somewhat relate. I contracted erhlichiosis several years ago - it's a tick-borne disease like lyme. I felt ill (off & on) for a couple of years even after 3 rounds of antibiotics. I still get symptoms now and then - it's a bacterial disease that lurks in the cells and can be hard to eradicate entirely. So frustrating. Keep the faith, kiddo. Sending positive thoughts that this will do the trick for you.

[M]

Thanks for the positive thoughts everyone. I should know if it's helping at all within the next two weeks. I'm on a huge amount of pills as well as having just finished the IV treatments. The unfortunate thing is that we start rehearsal in two weeks so, who knows where I will be by that point?! Hmmmm....