foreign piece of lung

i got that salmonella from the peanut butter, and i'm still not doing too well. i think the salmonella is gone but something else is wrong now. i keep getting these weird prickly feelings on my back, kind of like ants crawling around and biting me. i also get all dizzy and i'm pretty sure my vision is going. everything looks like an abstract painting half the time. my skin's drying up and flaking off, too, and i can't seem to stop it. i used an entire tube of super-extra-expensive-strength hand creme on my face yesterday and its still all bleh. i have old people hands. :( i really hope this means i'm going to die and isn't just another round of health problems that i'm going to have to learn to live with like the arthritis and the stomach problems that i already had, and that weird thing where i have to drink 2 gallons of water a day, or the salt cravings. cause those suck enough without back prickles, picasso vision, and grandma skin added. what's that you say? you think i should seek professional help? you think i might need a doctor now that my health has reached such lows? that would be the natural conclusion, i suppose, but i have no health insurance. i could get my mom to take me to see a doctor and pay him/her in cash, but i'm not that stupid. i have experience in these things and i know if you don't have insurance (and sometimes even if you do) the most a doctor will do is tell you he/she has no idea what could possibly be wrong with you, offer a useless prescription (usually motrin or an antihistamine), and send you on your way. its a complete waste of time and money and other resources to go see a doctor. unless you just really need giant motrin pills. so i'm left in the sad state of not being able to go back to school (i tried this morning and was met with utter failure) and having a host of funky symptoms to deal with. maybe i can name my invisible ants and when people see me slapping at my back, i can say "that's just ralph". it could be seen as quirky and endearing, you never know.

editor's note: this blog marks the beginning of the sickie saga. 02/15/07