Asthma & Ash...Upon Request

As my mother has pointed out, current events in my life may be interesting to include here alongside the great adventures. Wednesday I awoke with a deep cough that was almost painful and lasted all day, which resulted in my skipping all classes. Thursday I woke up and realized what I was coughing up was blood, not specks but good sized red blobs every five minutes or so. I felt horribly dizzy and nauseous with a difficult time breathing as my asthma was out of control and the cough was not helping matters. So I told my senora and she accompanied me to the hospital clinic as it would be able to do everything there, rather than the other doctor that I'd have to return to days later for a chest Xray. We waited about 15 minutes and got in, no one has to pay for health care if they live in Europe and if you are an immigrant from Morocco, you also receive free health care, but as I am American they will send it to my insurance company to figure out, but I didn't have to pay anything at that time which was good. We only had to wait about 15 minutes which was impressive and got in to see the doctor who said my chest sounded clear, even though I really was having the worst time breathing I've ever had because of asthma, and sent me for a chest X-ray. This came back clear which was good because apparently they had all been worried I had Tuberculosis, which I briefly joked about in my own head but didn't really think was something that happened, because I live a sheltered, doctor surrounded life back home. But apparently they were worried about it and thats why Senora decided on a taxi rather than a bus - she didn't want me contaminating the city haha. They said 80% of the time when this happens its because you rupture or break a vein in your throat from coughing too hard, so that was my diagnosis. They said take cough medicine and drink water, so we left and I did just that. That night I had trouble breathing so I used my wonderful roommate Kathleen's nebulizer she bought with for such emergencies, and it helped me sleep. However Friday I was not feeling any better although the bleeding had stopped by morning. The asthma felt worse, no amount of inhaler would abate my need for oxygen. Saturday I was getting frustrated, a little homesick for my mom and regular doctor, so I told senora I'd like to go back to the hospital clinic to tell them I needed something for the cough/asthma portion, which really was what started everything else- the intense god awful headaches from coughing so hard and the broken vein. She agreed as she is very kind and we headed to the clinic. Unfortunately it was Saturday so the hospital was no where near as staffed as it had been Thursday, and we waited an unreal amount of time, 3 1/2 hours, to see the doctor. I felt horrible she had sat there all day with me but she was so nice, she just kept saying don't worry about it, when you live in my house, I'm like the mama, I'm just sitting here peacefully, don't worry. So we got in and she explained everything to the doctor better and they gave me a nebulizer that was really strong and made me super nauseous. I told them I didn't feel well, but after a few seconds they said I could stop but then the treatment wouldn't work. So I wasn't feeling well at this point, and a nurse turns around to look at me, holding a syringe. I was a bit frantic as I searched the room instinctively for an exit, but senora smiled and said it was fine. The woman walked toward me and turned, smacking her ass in the process. Thats right, she wanted to shoot me in the ass with that needle. I was so confused as I have never had a shot in the ass before, but she got real close and personal, thank god I didn't have to take off my pants, she just tugged them down a bit and STUCK me! It was an ungraceful entry with a bit too much force if you ask me, and good god did it hurt. It was sore for about 10 minutes and I was sure it was the end for me, nebulizer mask strapped across my face and ass sending pain up my side. Then the doctor gave me some Prednisone and we got outta there finally. It was an exhaustingly long day and I couldn't thank senora enough for accompanying me. We stopped and she got me pizza for dinner and then we both spent the evening laying around the apartment.

Meanwhile, the Volcano in Iceland had erupted and was emitting smoke and ash in a giant cloud, and it was all over the news, saying flights had been redirected and cancelled for the time being. The situation progressed and England shut down its airports, Germany followed suite. Many flights from Madrid were also cancelled. I don't know which countries were or are doing domestic flights, but today, Sunday, I heard one girl from our school who had been in Barcelona when it happened on her way to Austria, had to wait there that weekend and then ended up taking a train back to Granada today. I guess that means Barcelona's airport wasn't doing domestic flights, another girl said she read the ash cloud had reached Barcelona. This is not good, not good people. I actually have tickets pre-bought for Barcelona in two weekends, so I hope everything is cleared up, but Mother Nature is a force and I wouldn't bet against her ability to mess up all kinds of plans for people. I just hope everything is fine when its time for me to come home, as I have two classes to take, one of which will have already started online, and a lot to prepare for my student teaching next year, tests and medical stuff, meeting with teachers, background check. I'll stay optimistic and say I'm sure everything will be fine by then, it's a month away, but I think we'll know better by the end of this week if things are really going to be bad. I'd be willing to bet at least airports and flights will be pushing to start to stop the loss of more money, time will tell.

Hope everyone is doing well, they say a change in the wind that stayed that way for several days is what would need to happen to get rid of the cloud, but I hope that doesn't mean sending it your way to the East coast!

Love all