Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Another Hard Day

My alarm clock went off at 6:10am just as it does every day now. I sat up in bed and looked at my arm. It was still excessively swollen. On sunday night I didn't shut my patio window and a misquito came in to bite my right arm. A few days later my arm puffed up. The area around the bite becoming quite hot. Yesterday with a fair amount of worry I went to a hospital by the gym. I signed in and fifteen minutes later was ushered upstairs to the dermatology section. The doctor looked at it for a bit, and asked me if I had recently gotten a cast off. I replied that I thought it was a skin infection. She agreed then gave me an anti-biotic shot and an oral anti-biotic to take after my morning breakfast. I have another check up this afternoon at 5pm. The whole experience has been really worrisome. I haven't been sure of the cost, the actual infection has caused me some anxiety, and being so far from home adds to my stress.

I decided not to go to the gym today due to my arm. Yesterday when I went it was quite painful, especially when my arm was hit or jostled. I also got another bloody nose yesterday. It was the third I'd gotten in the latest three sessions of boxing. My hubris wasn't that good for me as the day that I praised my boxing ability as being better than Akida's I got my face smashed in by a Korean boxer. He opened up my nose and blood gushed out. On monday the korean boxer's trainer opened up the faucet again. When I can taste blood in the back of my mouth my heart really sinks. When I spit out blood and phlem it seems like I hardly have a muscle that beats blood through my body. Yesterday wasn't as tremendous of an outpouring of blood. I spent two rounds box sparring with the 70 kilo Japanese fighter Issei. Issei is a little over 6 feet and in good shape. In order to survive the four minute rounds I tried to keep a tight guard with my head down. Most of his punches were straight punches to my head. He threw combinations that included an uppercut. The punches would smash my noses painfully upward. Occasionally I was able to work his body a little, but for the most part it was I who was on the recieving end of the damage. AT some point during the boxing session I recieved a black eye. I didn't realize it until this morning when I looked in the mirror. My face felt pretty puffy but I wasn't sure that I had a bruise.

Being out here is both good and extremely difficult. My monetary situation is pretty bleak as Bangkok/thailand is more expensive than I predicted. The training is really good but I feel like I'm putting my body through a meat grinder every day. I feel like I've been pretty unlucky and miss the comfort of home.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You better take care of yourself. That being said, this line has got to be one of the best quotes ever:
"When I can taste blood in the back of my mouth my heart really sinks."

eric. said...

eesh, I hope it's not malarious!

You should take the job as a movie extra, maybe you'll get on a Tony Jaa movie...?

Fight the planet,
eric