Just As A Side Note...

At exactly 12:03pm Wednesday May 20, 2009. I Finished College.

Salmonella

On Friday the 26th I pulled myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of 8:30am to attend a chocolate demonstration at school. I felt a little funny but passed it off as that weird feeling you sometimes get when you aren’t used to waking up so early. You have to understand, I don’t get up before 10:00am if I don’t have to. I love to sleep. Leaving the apartment at 8:50, I trudged to Starbucks to meet Bailey for a coffee before the demo. So with White Chocolate Mochas in hand, we headed to the auditorium. The speaker proceeded to talk for two hours about how chocolate is made. In my opinion, this was not necessary, seeing as how most of us were pastry chefs. That’s when I really started to feel bad. We left the demo early and I spent most of the rest of the day in the bathroom. And at 4:00pm I headed to work.
Work passed by as usual, however, as the night wore on; I started feeling worse and worse. My stomach was cramping, I had really bad nausea and horrible back pain. That night, I probably spent most of the evening in the ladies room. Finally at the end of the night during clean up, I couldn’t take it any more. I had my crew finish what they were doing and we all went home.
That night, I woke up every hour running to the bathroom. I started to think that I must have food poisoning. I had horrible chills, even though I was lying on a heating pad. The worst part though was the cramping in my stomach. Around 5:00am I called my mother and told her my symptoms and she told me to go ahead and go to the hospital. She thought I might have a bladder or kidney infection. I had to wake up my room mate Kate; for fear that I wouldn’t be able to drive myself. We got to the ER around 5:30am and they placed me in a room right away and began running tests. My boyfriend Paul came in about an hour after we got there and he stayed with me, after Kate had to go to work. They started me on saline solution and Demerol for my nausea. About two hours later, they informed me that they were going to do am MRI and an Ultrasound, but in order to do both of those, they had to give me a catheter. Most Painful Experience Of My Life. And my nurse was no saint either, she yelled at me the whole time, no sympathy or compassion. A little while after that, my doctor and another nurse came in and without warning gave me a pelvic exam. Second Most Painful Experience Of My Life. Then they took me to have my MRI and Ultrasound. My Demerol began to wear off and in the ultrasound room I became nauseous again. When I threw up, since there was nothing in my stomach the only thing that could come up was pure bile. It was scary because I didn’t know that pure bile was dark hunter green. They then moved me to an observation room where they continued to run tests. Later that evening around 10:00pm my parents showed up, they decided to come down when they found out they still didn’t know what was wrong with me and since they were keeping me over night.
Sunday came with pain and more tests. They finally let me eat, but I was on a clear food diet, which meant chicken broth, a popsicle, Jello, and apple juice, for all meals. Sunday was the day I had the most pain, they only medication they could give me was Demerol for the pain, since they didn’t know what was wrong with me. I could have Demerol every three hours, but after two hours it began to wear off, so I had to survive that last hour on my own. As soon as they gave me the Demerol I would sleep for about an hour and a half to two hours then wake up for that last hour or so running in and out of the bathroom. Probably the funniest experience of my hospital stay was falling asleep in the bathroom, multiple times. I would be in so much pain that I would sometimes be in the bathroom for that last hour before I could have more medication. So when the nurse would come to give it to me, she would have to give it to me when I was in the bathroom. Next thing I knew they were taping me on the leg telling me it was time to get back into the bed. I could have sworn I was already in the bed. Monday carried on much like Sunday, however, that afternoon, I was informed that I had salmonella. So at this point they put me on antibiotics. It was time to start getting better. Monday night they gave me potassium via IV and all of a sudden my arm began to burn, almost like it was on fire. Apparently potassium can do that to some people. So they took me off of the IV and gave it to me in pill form. Tuesday carried on much like Monday, and by Tuesday night I felt much better and they informed me I could maybe go home tomorrow. Wednesday morning they gave me one more antibiotic and then Wednesday afternoon I was sent home.

Amazingly enough I attended a Halloween party later that evening, Paul and I were pirates.

The Beginning to an End

So I will go into detail about what happened at the hospital next post, it's kinda long.
Almost a week after arriving at the hospital I was allowed to go home. A few days of in bed recovery and I was back to work! Kinda... Two days after my return the head chef came to me "you just finished culinary school didn't you? For pastry? Bring me your portfolio tomorrow, I want to see it." So I ran home and threw together a Portfolio and by the end of the week I was a bonified Pastry Chef. Literally. I was in charge! I skipped like.. 8 rungs of the culinary work ladder, I couldn't believe it! It was rocky at first, I was slow, uncoordinated, the ovens didn't work like the ones at school, I was there from 3 when I got out of school till midnight or one in the morning. It was tough. But it got better, I got better, soon I could bank out 100 desserts a night with no help. My head chef boughte new toys and equipment (they had
Never had a pastry program before so we were a bit unprepared). It was wonderful, everything I thought it would be! There were things I didn't like, the sales staff were a bunch of mindless coffee drinking bubble heads and the breakfast chefs Never cleaned up after themselves. But I love it! When I leave here (I don't know when) I don't think I will do banquet style food service anymore though. The sales girls really piss me off. I am hoping that if I prove to be awesome enough I will be allowed to hire an assistant. But we shall see!!

Friends in Low Paying Places

My foot was in the door now I just had to land the interview. Easier than I thought apparently. My future boss was running late for our interview, a bad impression for me, but she finally came out of the back room and we chatted. She practically threw me into the position. Banquet Server. For those of you who have no clue what that is, it is just like being a waitress, only you serve food to lots of people all at once. I had 2 days to find a tuxedo shirt and vest, which I eventually found in the children's section of Burlington Coat Factory. As I got ready for work I put my new uniform on, looked in the mirror and began to cry. This is not what I went to school for, this is not what I wanted my job to be. My boyfriend helped me pull myself together and dropped me off at work (He was really from Maryland at the time and just visiting.) It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I worked with a bunch of older women who loved me (I was good for heavy lifting) and I eventually became quite the popular worker, granted there was only about 10 of us. Over the summer, business slowed down and I managed to pick up a second job at The Body Shop. It was a nice change, make-up and pretty clothes were part of the uniform and I got to work with girls my own age (19-20) for the first time in my life. I usually have worked with all men or older women. In between all this I made some sundresses, new raving clothes, and a few costumes. My roommate received a new addition to our apartment, she ended up being crazy too... I spent my second Christmas away from home, the first one being when I was in Georgia. This one however was the first I spend with my boyfriend, he had moved to Charlotte 6 months earlier when he got transferred at work. It rolled around to July again and I was on the cusp of receiving a promotion at work. Well, I received the promotion, I just hadn't gotten the pay raise to go with it. I was made a Banquet Captain, meaning I was in charge of people and making things happen. Awesome! It went well for a few weeks, but going to school full time plus a full time job and a part time job and a not so perfect diet finally caught up with me. On October 26, 2007 I fell ill. At first I passed it off as food poisoning, then by four in the morning of the 27th I had chills and kept running to the bathroom. I woke up my roommate and we went to the hospital,

A Pastry Chef?

You may find yourself asking "why a pastry chef?" Well, I always loved to cook. I cook very well infact, ask anyone really, but what did I love more than cooking? Sweets. Sadly, Betty Crocker was about as far as I could go. So instead of going to school for cooking, I went to school for dessert...ing. Lots of fun really, I have always hated school, like... REALLY hated school, but in this school, I cooked for 6 hours, then got a grade! It was like God was making up for my evil second grade teacher who sent me home in tears almost everyday. I moved to the Carolinas to begin school, a day I wont forget. As I prepared to go to class, I broke down and said to my mother "I don't know if I can do this." Four more years of school? In a state 8 hours away from home? Not to mention I dont know ANYONE here. I was assured I could in fact do it and with a Starbucks coffee in one hand she kissed me and left. Now four years later, after 3 mentally unstable roommates and 1 that really wasn't all that bad, I prepare to take my final exams and walk across the stage. I wont be hard to miss, I will have on ruby slippers, sequence and all. But the point of this story actually starts about two years ago upon my return to Charlotte after a 3 month stint in Georgia for a Co-Op (imagine a study abroad only you dont leave the US). I was jobless, in a new apartment, with that one roommate who really wasn't all that bad, and completly broke. Fortunatly though, I apparently had friends in low places, well, low paying anyway.

Day One

Lets start at the beginning shall we? I am 21 years old, about to graduate college, about to get married, completly obsessed with small furry animals, technology illiterate, about to move for the 7th time in 4 years, and oh yea, I am a Pastry Chef.