aftermath version 2.0

I arrived in Hong Kong yesterday at 2pm. Thank goodness I had an upgrade to business class as it would have been a nightmare to be stuck at the back of the plane. I could hardly sleep because of the discomfort and nausea, despite the flat beds and excellent meals and service. During the 12-hour flight I glugged down at least 3 litres of water - and still it didn't seem to help. The rolling pain and nausea usually quickly ease away when I take a dose of paracetamol but once it wears off, I'm grimacing in pain again.

Was it this bad the last time? I think I was in a worse state before. But my memory for pain doesn't linger long so it seems this is just as bad. Since coming home I unpacked and pottered about, and tried to stay awake as long as I could to combat jetlag. I managed to go to bed at 11pm but got up a few times to drink more water and to pee. At about 5:30am I tossed and turned so much - general discomfort in the abdomen area and slight difficult in breathing - I decided to get up and read.

The ARGC requires me to drink 1 litre of milk and 2 litres of water a day. I'm slightly lactose intolerant so I drank only a glass of milk this morning and at least 1 litre of water already. I'm hoping the pain will ease off quickly before I go back to work tomorrow. I'll need all the strength I can muster!

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Before I left London, T showered me with gifts. Two large bags of gifts, to be precise. I felt like Santa Claus with ten kids at home or a shopping-maniac who love to burn the plastic. Obviously I am quite the opposite as I dislike shopping - such a pointless affair - but her generosity and gratitude made me all fuzzy inside. She wrote me a heartfelt letter which I read while on the plane coming home and I was trying so hard not to cry. It was beautifully written and touched my heart. Like I said before, I would do this all over again for her even in the context of the awful aftermath of egg retrieval. Yes I would.

Avelox is evil

Now I am beginning to understand why I felt like s*** yesterday and today. But let me go back to the start. Yesterday evening after dinner I took another 2 neurofen pills (400 mg iburofen) and another 2 more just before I went to bed at 1:30am. The pain was still coming and going, and the nausea was a constant throb at the base of my stomach - but I took it all in stride because it's supposed to get worse before the going gets better, no?

At 4:45am I woke up with severe cramps all over my abdomen and sides, a mild panic attack started setting in, the nausea is starting to rise right up to my back of the throat, and the worst was the back pain that came in spasms. I tried to sleep for a few more hours but it was all rather patchy sleep - I had horrible nightmares - and when I finally woke up at 10:30am I was covered in a horrible bumpy rash! Here's a picture of my lower arm covered in rash. It isn't terribly itchy but to see my thighs, chest, upper abdomen and lower arms covered with it is NOT a pretty sight.

I decided not to take the Avelox this morning and then proceeded to do a ton of research on it. Turns out that I am showing classic symptoms of drug allergy. Funny that Dr C never mentioned that it is such a powerful drug and one that should be taken with extreme caution. Reading through all the side effects that people had after taking Avelox, I know I am on the mild side of the scale but it still scared the jeepers out of me. I texted Dr C, describing to her my symptoms and she called me shortly after to say I should stop taking it (I wouldn't have taken it even if she had wanted me to!) and to take one dose of Zyrtec, an antihistamine to combat the rash.

I have always been very suspicious of drugs and I know my body is totally battered after the weeks of countless injections/drugs/antibiotics/anesthetic, and now this incident gave me another reason to be distrustful of pharmaceutical companies. They are just money-loving, profit-driven, heck-with-the-common-people-we-just-want-your-body-to-be-reliant-on-our-drugs kind of 'tude assholes. Well, not all of them, I'm sure. There must be one or two souls in this industry who genuinely care for the future of humankind and our well-being. But I digress - the point is, every drug should be explained in detail to the patient what it is, its potential side-effects, how it works, etc. We are entitled to that, at the very least. Avelox was given to me in those generic "ziplock"-type sachet with only the label stuck at the front saying "2 Avelox Tab 400MG / DAILY / TAKE ONE TABLET / .....swallowed whole, not chewed". No leaflet, no warning, no indication.

Some will say it's Dr C's fault but I will give her the benefit of the doubt. She was probably too swamped with work and patients on Thursday and as a result, forgot to talk me through this antibiotic. After all, she has been a star, really, always putting my health as first priority.

I guess I am bed-ridden for the rest of the day. No more 7s! :(