Over The River And Through The Woods...

… To The Hospital, We Go. What I thought was mere indegestion turned out to keep me awake all of Monday night, so I assumed it was something worse. The answer was both yes and no, apparently. I’d gone to work, intending to make a stop later in the day to Illini Convenient Care to get a prognosis. Unfortunately shortly after getting to work, I became dizzy, nauseous, turned sheet-white, and went into cold sweats.

Upon seeing this, Patrick offered to drive me to Trinity. I graciously accepted, after spending a few minutes determining whether I’d have to hobble to the restroom and reject my breakfast. After much poking and prodding, two outside consultations, a call to my usual doctor, and exchanged faxes, they narrowed it down to two possibilities: Pericarditis, and what they finally settled on: Costochondritis. Big name, but basically it means the cartilage in my left ribs is red and angry. Feels like a heart attack, just north of an ulcer, nothing more than inflamed cartilage.

So now I’m taking Naproxen (Alieve, to you and me) to reduce the inflamation, and Hydrocodone (think Vicodin) so I’ll be able to sleep tonight. So you can quit worrying… nothing life-threatening, just really painful, inconvenient, and after a trip to the ER, expensive.

On a lighter note, I’ve been looking into contracting. It seems like it might be lucrative, if a little more work to build a network of contacts. I’m using The Contract Employee’s Handbook as a reference guide. The author, Dr. James R. Ziegler even started a very successful low-overhead W2 based company that only takes $4-5 a contractor’s billable rate to cover administrative expenses, so the annoying risk of filing quarterly 1099 tax-forms is moot. I think it’s a good mix between stable work and full independant contracting, and once I get enough materials, I’m curious to try it out. After I recuperate, that is.

I’ve also purchased “How To Win Friends and Influence People,” though I’ve long been suspicious of that book as a shady method of being manipulative. Really it’s just a handbook on how to spin things to a positive aspect and generally be likable; two things everyone can agree I need to improve. We’ll see how it goes.