Kingdom Under Fire

[End of February, Early March]
Ivana was feeling sick and decided to contact her manager to get the next day off. Luckily for her (and me) she was able to pull it off. We watched an episode of Dexter on Netflix and ended up going to sleep like any other night. The following morning an unexpected event occurred. I had a seizure that sent a shock wave of fear in the minds of many of my close friends and family members. Waking up in the hospital several hours later, Ivana told me that she thought I was pulling a prank. I barely recall anything that took place that morning. From what I was told I was very coherent and able to communicate effectively. Apparently another large seizure occurred while at the hospital. Once I woke up I had a hard time communicating which could have been a side effect of the two events. It was Tuesday and I had planned to go to an Ethereum Meetup which focused on the smart contract format and how to write one. I remember saying "I hope they let me out early so I can go to that Ethereum meetup" internally Ivana was giggling. If it wasn't for her staying home that morning who knows what the outcome would have been.

Hospital Hamptons

By the second day my mother flew in and my friends came to visit me. I was eating impeccable meals and having a beautiful view of Philadelphia. I was feeling high on the hog, which later scared the crap out of me since I had no health insurance. The entire scenario felt surreal to me. People whom I haven't spoken to in months were concerned about me. Seeing my instagram photo of wires attached to my head I looked like something from Ghost In The Shell. By that day I finally was able to grasp what had caused the seizure. The doctors voice uttered two words "Cavernous Malformations". Having short term memory loss, I had a tough time answering basic questions when being tested by the doctors and their interns. Majority of my experience was a euphoric daze due to morphine and by the end of it I realized I was not a fan of being hospitalized. I was discharged after four days of being there with a diagnosis I had a hard time remembering the name of and two medications.

Benjamin Franklin Statue at University of Pennsylvania

Temporary Relief

I was given two weeks to come back to life. My mother stayed in town for a few days to watch over me while I was recovering. She had never been to Philadelphia, so I made sure to give her a tour throughout University City and eat at all the best places I knew of. After walking through Penn University, we had lunch at Clarkville which is one of my favorite pizza spots in West Philly. We got a large Eggplant Pie and split it down the middle with a delicious Warm Cauliflower Salad. After completing a couple important tasks, we spent a good amount of time hanging out at the house and cooking dinner together. It was great to have her over since we haven't seen each other since I left for Peru. The following day was somewhat of a blur, but what I can recall is our trip to Front Street Cafe when we went out for dinner that evening. We hailed an Uber and got in the car, as we progressed, I was a bit startled by the experience we had with our driver. It was nothing too outrageous, but we spent an hour outside of our destination talking about parasites and how to remove them using homeopathic remedies. I interrupted the conversation and said "we haven't eaten anything for lunch" causing an easy escape rope. Despite it's strange arrangement it got me thinking more. We entered in, and were quickly seated by one of the hosts. We ordered the Buffalo Califlower which is one of their signature dishes. I ordered the FSC Veggie Burger, while my mother got the Tostada Grain Bowl. Before arriving, I told her this was the place I would take her and my father if they ever visited, immediately she was able to see why I said that. The aesthetic of the space is very pleasing to the eye. With our bellies full we took another Uber home and rested until morning. Then came the day for her to head home, I could feel her already missing me when she hugged me. It was really hard to see her go. Once she left I still had a week and a half to make the best out of a bad situation.

Control, Control, Control

I spent the remainder of those days not giving a damn and hanging out with friends which ended up being unproductive. My reckless behavior was an obvious projection of being in denial that the tragic incidents that took place never even occurred. I started to scare a lot people because of this naive attitude. It got to the point where I was being suggested to get special watches that would send out notifications to close friends or loved ones. One of the largest hurdles that I haven't mentioned yet which could explain this behavior was that I had to juggle two medications, one being Dilantin and the other Keppra. Some of the side effects I had to deal with in the first few weeks were dizziness, extreme mood swings, and suicidal tendencies. It wasn't until later that I was able to dial them in to have complete control over them. When I started to work again I was doing my smartphone delivery service as well as taking care of the elderly gentleman. With those two fields you can see how it could be challenging to combat those types of side effects. There would be days where I would be jolly then all of sudden feel like "what's the world good for?" I knew internally something had to change. During this time frame I kept having urges to look into self-reliance or stumble upon it. It was as if my world was trying to tell me something. When I arrived the older gentleman's house I was fed up with these pills and made one of the best decisions I ever could have made. I looked for an herbalist.