Hospitals Suck

For people who follow this blog, it will come to many as no surprise the fact that I can't sleep at night.

I feel tired and droopy the whole day, and full of life at night. Naturally, I understand that like bats and owls, I too am a night creature.. or a creature of the night. Call me whatever tickles your fantasy .. but it still doesn't change anything.. as I continue to find that sleeping at night is a difficult chore!

Normally, when I am in Bahrain or anywhere else in the world for that matter..this is a good way of co-existing. I don't have to be fully awake and waste my full potential during the day on mundane things like work and being nice to stupid people. Half-asleep with my eyes half shut, and my brain on 'hibernate' mode..I don't get as frustrated and angry with everyday things in an existance we collectively call 'life.'

During this trip to Bahrain, the combined effect of being jetlagged and severly down with a seasonal flu (fuck those fucking tonsils), is making me feel droopier than ever in my life. I don't even know if what I am typing now makes sense and frankly speaking I don't care.

Anyway.. all this isn't the issue..the issue is that despite me being so sick and spaced out I was the official ambulance service yesterday.

My day started at 3.44am as I was about to fall asleep after trying to unsuccessfully log online (limited or no connectivity!). My mother-in-law was knocking on my door to tell me that my father-in-law wasn't feeling well and if we could take him to the hospital. Half-awake I wear the same clothes I just tossed on the floor next to my bed and start the first of several visits to the hospital that day.

At 8am, my father-in-law was discharged and I drove him back home and decided that it was my bedtime. This is where the phones start ringing, usually from callers who have had their beauty sleep and were ready to start their days by planning their lunches, dinners and shopping expeditions for that day.

Since I was really switched off..I turned off my cell phones and decided to call it a day .. but that was not to be. Me, my mother, my sister-in-law, my two-and-a-half year old nephew (bless him) and many other people in our clan were all down with the flu...sneezing and shivering the whole day.

I don't recall how the hours between 8am and 6pm were wasted and don't ask.. but at 6.30pm I found myself asking my sister-in-law if she wanted me to take her to the hospital for a jab to fix that flu. After much reluctance, she agreed and I took her to the doctor's. I left her there with my mum-in-law and drove back my nephew home, worried that he may catch another bug on route from the troops of sneezing farting patients at the hospital. On my way back to the hospital, my sister called me to tell me that she was done with the tutor and if I could pick her up.

Since she was on my way anyway.. I picked her up. Red Eyes got into my car which her eyes in red and in tears and her face itchy and swelling. I asked her what happened and she said it might be an allergy from her friend's Siamese cat.. Funny..since we have always had and still have cats at home and have never had any allergies. And since we were going to the hospital anyway, I dropped her off and picked up my in-laws to take them home.

On my way to the hospital to pick up my sister, another sister calls to tell me they are taking my other sister to the hospital after complaining of chest pain, shivering and weakness in the legs.

What was happening in our house? Don't ask but for some weird reason the birds in the bird cage outside, where my brother-in-law was BBQing some fish one of my sisters just bought from the market for dinner..were dropping dead one after the other.

Altogether 18 Love Birds and their chicks died and the bottom of the cage was soon covered with their brilliant yellow, green and blue bodies. It was a scary sight and we didn't know whether it was bird flu, some virus in the air or a killer bug that has invaded our house.

This morning the mystery was solved. A vet was brought to the house to inspect the massacare and the verdict is that the bird food we bought from the pet store was contaminated.

My sister is still in shock.. I am still sleepy.. and my tonsils hurt.