Monday, July 20, 2009
Sicko
A short while ago I noticed a bite on my leg. Bites aren't that unusual, but this one caught my attention because it was somewhat swollen, yet still completely painless. I showed it to a few people; they all dismissed it as harmless. I ignored the bite for a time, but noted with increasing interest that each time I saw it, rather than appearing a bit fainter, the bite was actually getting larger! A week later, when the bite had swollen to 5 inches in diameter, I started to get a bit uneasy.
I told Joelle about it on the phone, and she was the one to actually to suggest that it might be lyme disease. We googled images of 'lyme disease' and sure enough, they all looked exactly like the strange, bulls-eye rash on my leg. The girl at the doctor’s office agreed with our diagnosis but explained that they can't be sure until the disease has been percolating in your bloodstream for 6 weeks, at which point they perform a blood test that yields only shaky results. They normally just diagnose it symptomatically, which is why all she did was glance at the bite before giving me my prescription and sending me on my way.
So, I can't be certain, but apparently I contracted lyme disease. I took the round of medication for three weeks, and the rash faded almost completely away. All I can see now is the small red mark where the tick got me.
I didn't know much about the disease to begin with, but have now learned enough to be deeply grateful for that nasty rash. Had it not shown up, I never would have been able to diagnose the disease so quickly through the other, more ambiguous symptoms. My friend Michelle never had a rash to help her identify her lyme disease, and so it had advanced so far before being treated that she will be experiencing the effects of it for the rest of her life.
I assume that I am completely whole at this point, although when I struggle to wake up to my alarm I am very tempted to blame it on the lyme disease and use it as an excuse to sleep another hour. This could be a useful scape goat.
He revealed my secret!
Almost two months ago Mike and I attended the opening night of Artomatic. (Artomatic is a month-long art expo. It is located in a huge, gutted building in the District by the Nats stadium. You can enter for free and browse 8 levels of art exhibits, enjoy live performances, and sip beverages. ) On the 7th floor we stumbled upon an exhibit by Frank Warren- the PostSecret artist. He's the guy who has everyone mail him their secrets on anonymous postcards and then he publishes them in books. I believe he has published several of them by this point. He had a table set up where several people were writing secrets on postcards, and then he also had a screen and a camera set up and people were sharing their secrets verbally and being recorded on film. You could choose to be either visible to the camera or incognito behind the screen. We were quite entertained by the spectacle.
As we watched, the camera guy caught sight of us standing there. He loved the hat I was wearing and had his heart set on getting the hat-profile behind the screen on camera. It took a little cajoling, but I finally agreed to share a secret so he could get his precious shot.
Mike and I jokingly thought it would be a good idea to share our feelings about the Gospel of Jesus Christ as our "secret". We knew that no one would hear it except this camera-man who had earphones on and could hear what you said in the mic, so it would be a fun little moment to have him as a captive audience, so to speak. Mike challenged me to actually do it, so of course I did. I told the poor camera-man all about why the LDS church is so great and how happy the gospel makes me, concluding by saying that this is a secret that should NOT be kept. When I was through, I searched his face for any sort of reaction, but he was extremely professional and simply told me, "Good job."
Well, fast forward two months. Yesterday Mike asked me if I ever went online to see if they used my secret on their blog. I had actually totally forgotten about it. I went online to check, and what do you know! There, on youtube for all to see, is a brief segment on PostSecret at Artomatic including two brief clips from my secret! Unfortunately, he edited out all specific references to the LDS church, but I'm still pretty tickled that he was willing to include anything on the subject of religion!
I searched a little further and it looks the like the guy has even made the image of my hat-profile behind the screen the new screen saver on his laptop. ha.
If you'd like to hear my secret for yourself, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF8DaUv8si4
I would recommend that you skip the first minute or so: there are a few secrets that you may not want to hear before you get to the really good one- mine!
Mike and I posing with Frank Warren- the PostSecret man himself.
There's the hat-profile the camera-man wanted so badly. You can see him in the foreground with his headphones on, listening to me share my religious beliefs!
As we watched, the camera guy caught sight of us standing there. He loved the hat I was wearing and had his heart set on getting the hat-profile behind the screen on camera. It took a little cajoling, but I finally agreed to share a secret so he could get his precious shot.
Mike and I jokingly thought it would be a good idea to share our feelings about the Gospel of Jesus Christ as our "secret". We knew that no one would hear it except this camera-man who had earphones on and could hear what you said in the mic, so it would be a fun little moment to have him as a captive audience, so to speak. Mike challenged me to actually do it, so of course I did. I told the poor camera-man all about why the LDS church is so great and how happy the gospel makes me, concluding by saying that this is a secret that should NOT be kept. When I was through, I searched his face for any sort of reaction, but he was extremely professional and simply told me, "Good job."
Well, fast forward two months. Yesterday Mike asked me if I ever went online to see if they used my secret on their blog. I had actually totally forgotten about it. I went online to check, and what do you know! There, on youtube for all to see, is a brief segment on PostSecret at Artomatic including two brief clips from my secret! Unfortunately, he edited out all specific references to the LDS church, but I'm still pretty tickled that he was willing to include anything on the subject of religion!
I searched a little further and it looks the like the guy has even made the image of my hat-profile behind the screen the new screen saver on his laptop. ha.
If you'd like to hear my secret for yourself, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF8DaUv8si4
I would recommend that you skip the first minute or so: there are a few secrets that you may not want to hear before you get to the really good one- mine!
Mike and I posing with Frank Warren- the PostSecret man himself.
There's the hat-profile the camera-man wanted so badly. You can see him in the foreground with his headphones on, listening to me share my religious beliefs!
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