Illness, Recovery, & Bills

The alternate post title could have been: “How to lose 7 pounds in 10 days.”

For those of you wondering where I disappeared to, I have been writing my thesis, planning conferences, attending conferences, and recovering from illness.

I got sick March 13th, wound up in the ER for a day at the end of that week and it took me another 10 days to recover. Gastroenteritis (a.k.a. stomach flu) sucks big time, especially when you are supposed to be working on your thesis, an

No, I'm not usually this pale and this ins't prep for an upcoming zombie costume. This was me in the middle of being sick. I thought I was cured because I felt better that day, but I was wrong.

internship, and grad. assistantship, during your sick time. I also managed to lose 7 pounds in 10 days (not counting water weight lost).

After getting off the antibiotics, which wreaked some havoc on my already low immune system, I got an opportunistic viral infection. Cue illness #2, which would have been manageable if the treatment didn’t cause me to sleep 16 hours a day. Somehow, everything I caught was non-contagious and the doctors couldn’t figure out what had caused me to get so sick in the first place.

Despite the fact that the doctors made a mint off of my insurance from the health visits and hospital trips, I managed to get my thesis into review, finished planning the 2011 MAASA (Middle Atlantic American Studies Association) conference with the help of my coworkers, attended the gala event I wrote two grants to fund, and planned for attending the PCA/ACA (Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association) conference in San Antonio, Texas. (The PCA/ACA conference was a blast. I was declared healthy the day before I got on my flight to Texas,  making me my time of illness total— five weeks!)

Now I just have to figure out what to do with these medical bills I was sent when the insurance said I was covered and finish the end of the semester.

P.S.: MAASA has been renamed EASA (Eastern American Studies Association).