Skip to main content

The Hospital Halloween 2021!

I'm still in Upper Chesapeake. I'll be in the hospital for Halloween. I could've gone home, but the doc said she'd prefer I stay a couple more days just to ensure I'm good, that my sodium levels level out. I'll defer to her med degree and stay the weekend.

Covid and low sodium have kicked my ass. I've legit seen beds and rooms cleared, and you know where those bodies are going, don't you, Elton? I do, and it's and odd feeling. It's frightening. I don't know if I've been this close to death before, in space and time - not my health.

Earlier this week has been non-stop rainy. But then a beautiful golden sun came through, and it looks absolutely autumn outside. I'm staring out a huge window on the backside of the hospital to a view of just trees mostly. I'd wake up in the middle of the night to go #1 and it was pouring. I could see it pouring on the pavement under the amber parking lights. This persisted the first few days I was here.

Now we're closing in on 9 days... But I'm starting to feel a lot better. I don't know if I had brain fog, but I felt this utter head congestion. It was as if my brain had outgrown my skull and it was threatening on breaking out of its skull-prison. I couldn't quite articulate this feeling to the doctors, so they did a brain scan. And the other night, I felt this bout of uncontrollable nihilism. It was weird, and I hated every second it lasted. I had no interest in anything, or anyone. I couldn't have visitors but I didn't want to have any regardless. It was a terrible, depressing feeling and I hope it never returns.


Docs said my brain is perfect. Well to my standards. All my tests are really good. My oxygen level is near perfect. So maybe the vaccine helped me kick Covid's ass. She mentioned to me that I wouldn't be here for the Covid alone; they are only treating the low sodium. This helped me to understand my treatment now.

One night I called T on Instagram video chat. I wanted to see her and not just a picture, and the dogs, as well. She was carving pumpkins, and I was entirely jealous. She got the 'Vid too, but she was blessed with only a cough. So she stayed home and made these two precious jack-o'-lanterns.



One thing I have to admit, and it's kept my spirits up the entire time I've been here, is the staff - all of them - have been just incredible. When I showed weakness and curiosity to making it out of here, they were there for me. The care I've received here has been just perfect, and I appreciate them all. I've thanked them in person but I wanted it out there in the universe.

Something unexpected happened the other day. There was an active shooter scare here at the hospital. I was told to get in my bathroom and lock the door. I watched as staff took off in all directions, securing patients. It worked the adrenaline while I was bed bound...

So Halloweentober 2021 has not been and ideally perfect holiday. But the fact that I'm getting healthier by the day is all the good news I need at the moment. I'll try to make up for it next season.

This is Gerald. He returned to me.

Gerald (above) is a thing. This preppy pumpkin-headed scarecrow was at Target, and I forgot to go back for him. Next visit and he was gone, as were all his siblings. However, weeks later T showed up at home with new Gerald. She remembered I really wanted to pick him up and missed out. She saw him one day at a thrift store and brought new Gerald home. He will never leave his forever home.

Popular posts from this blog

BEING ELTON ALWINE

This is something that I've not give much thought about, and I'm not one to self-diagnose, but I have to find out if I have an anxiety disorder. All the symptoms are there: sweating, shortness of breath, headaches, etc. The list goes on. It's hard to concentrate, and I'm sick of excuses for why I'm not writing. It's certainly not lack of love or passion. And I am just a bit too affected on Sundays. The Baltimore Ravens are one of my loves in life, but this football team should in no way affect my attitudes and moods after game day . This, to me, is completely unacceptable. As of late, I've also developed an unnatural fear of death. I have witnessed this transformation seemingly outside of myself. I've never actually been the "worry wart" type, and I'm far from letting this behavior continue. Depression, Anxiety - these are words that I have always abhorred ; figments of the Pharmaceutical Industry's Utopian dream. Quite a bit of this d...

Jack-o'-lanterns in November!

Today most of America seems to have forgotten that the venerable jack-o'-lantern is not only an important symbol of Halloween, but also of Thanksgiving. As a kid this icon of Thanksgiving was a decoration you would see in people's yards throughout October and November; through most of autumn. Today you don't see it as much, with folks settling for simple uncarved pumpkins on the steps on the porch, or on bales of hay. I bring this up only because I'd like to see a return to the pumpkin-headed scarecrows staying around for more than one holiday. I'm keeping my jack-o'-lanterns out in the yard and on the porch until the day after Thanksgiving. It's time we keep the pumpkin-head scarecrow around all fall. This is a perfect way to repurpose your jacks into November, instead of letting them get tossed by some teenagers post-All Hollows Eve! However, there is something to be said for rotting jack-o'-lanterns after Halloween that just screams cool. Aging jacks ...

Diagnosis Vampire!

Diagnosis Murder is one of my favorite snuggle beside the fire nostalgia trips to enjoy once in a while, like Murder, She Wrote or Matlock . It has that cozy mystery vibe and it's set at the perfect era - i.e., late 1980s through the 1990s. Actually I think DM ended in the early 2000s... But, anyway. The episode (S2 E13) The Bela Lugosi Blues (1995) was one of the first episodes I watched that turned me on to the show, and that's purely for the vampire story. Plus, Julie Carmen plays the vampire antagonist! Yes, Jerry Dandridge's sister, Regina! Julie plays the undead Moriah Thomas, who is killing most of LA's eligible bachelor's, and Jack could be next! Usually Diagnosis Murder plays things fair and straight, dispelling any notions of fantasy before the shows climax, but with this episode the show leans into the supernatural and doesn't fix it with a bend towards reality. Is Mark hallucinating, high with fever, or dreaming?? None of the above! Th...