fire drill

I was almost done with the anion-exchange chromatography step of my biochemistry lab when the fire alarm in the science building sounded. It wouldn't have been a big deal except that our professor told us to stay put and continue collecting fractions. The whole lab followed her directions and as the rest of the building evacuated we dutifully collected fractions. Finally, a few other chemistry professors asked us why we were not evacuating and as we explained to them that we were instructed to continue our experiment our lab prof informed us that the sirens were not a drill and we should actually leave. Since it has been snowing for the past two weeks in Michigan, we all huddled in the snow without our coats right outside the door of the building hoping we could return inside quickly. It turned out that some grey water dripped onto a sensor in the smoke detector system and set the alarms off but you would think that a bunch of science majors would know better than to 1) stay in the building during a fire alarm and 2) evacuate to approximately two inches away from the front door.

new wall decorations

My roommate had a brilliant idea to paint a mural on a particularly boring wall in our living room during Spring Break. I unfortunately ended up in the hospital halfway through construction of the fence and we lost out momentum. Fortunately, the continuous snow for the past week prompted us to finish this weekend. We haven't put quite all the flowers on the arbor over the door, yet, but otherwise I am quite proud of it. I will try and take another picture during the day so more of the detail is visible. For now, this is as good as it gets:

life with one fallopian tube

Twas was the day before classes, when all across campus, not a student was seen, not even the senseless. I was reading a book peacefully outside, hoping that all this talk of school was a lie. Then, the pain started. The most excruciating pain I have ever experienced had me in tears all afternoon. I tried taking warm baths, drinking ginger tea, and napping before moving onto extra strengh tylenol and 800 mg ibuprofin. Then suddenly, the pain disappeared. I quickly attributed this to the wonders of painkillers and went on about my day. Unfortunately, it returned to haunt me that evening and refused to yield to the cocktail of painkillers I attempted. I grudgingly went to the student health center on Monday morning where they told me they thought I had a bladder infection and sent out a culture even though they found no white blood cells on the dip stick. They also, however, scheduled me for an ultrasound at the hospital on Wednesday. After two nights in tears without sleep, I stumbled into the hospital for my appointment. Although the technician couldn't tell me what I had, I knew the huge sac of fluid I saw wasn't normal. She suggested I return on Friday for an appointment but I refused to leave the hospital and finally found a doctor who would see me in family practice. It turns out I had a huge ovarian cyst 10 cm across that was wrapped around my fallopian tube. Later that evening, I was in surgery. I naively believed I would be up and about the next day and able to attend classes on Friday. I was finally discharged from the hospital on Friday afternoon and started to go back to classes Monday. Fortunately, my surrogate family in Kalamazoo has been making sure I take it easy and made sure I had company in the hospital. Classes on Monday were tough...I completely underestimated the amount of energy it would take me to get around campus. But today I feel many times better.
By far the most frustrating part is realizing I have to take it easy for a couple of weeks. No running, no lifting (i.e. no carrying a backpack or picking up dogs) and no bike-riding. Grr.