Matt Charlton

It’s been nearly two weeks since my last (normal) blog post.  That’s rather scary, especially when it’s something I’d taken to doing quite regulary.

I’ve spent the last week being rather poorly.  What I thought initially was a cold turned out to be something slightly worse – even worse than Man Flu.  I think it might have possibly been REAL flu!  How about that. 

Along with the usual runny nose and cotton wool head, there were shivers, then hot spells complete with sweats (yum), major headaches, fever (haven’t had one of those for a while, muscle aches, a feeling of completely knackeredness which led to sleep, more sleep and rest.  I tried to go back to work on Friday because I felt slightly better, didn’t even last 2 hours before I’d sent myself home on the bus, I couldn’t concentrate and I couldn’t think straight, I couldn’t even hear. 

My inner ears were still up in Queensbury and I was down in Halifax, it was like wandering around with earmuffs on – everything was muffled and led to me feeling even worse.  This seemed to sort itself out when I was on the bus back up home which was good. 

Saturday morning I felt slightly better – my nose had stopped running, I felt completely out of it for most of the day though and had some interesting headaches later on, it took paracetamol, codeiene and later Ibuprofen to shift it completely. 

This morning I felt great, this afternoon even more so.  I’m confident that I’ll be back at work in the morning all shiny and happy.  The only downside to this is that I’ve inevitably passed it on to Sue who is now suffering.  Now it’s not like her to complain if she gets a cold, she just gets on with it (I’m a man so when I get a cold, it’s like a life threatening illness), with it knocking her for six I know it wasn’t just a regular cold which makes me feel slightly better about having to take time off work sick.  I hate having to do that, I feel like I’m letting people down – at the same time I don’t want to do anything that might slow down my recovery/affect me more in the long term. 

It’s one of those great conundrums isn’t it – stay at home, get better, people at work are undermanned but manage or go in, spread your illness to your workmates (cheers Carl ) help out but not be working at anywhere near full productivity.  I’m still not sure which is the best route to take – I know that everyone deals with illness in a slightly different way and it affects us in different ways too.  I’m not one for taking sick days with just a runny nose but if it’s affecting my concentration and ability to do my job I have to make a decision. 

I don’t really have anything else to write about at the moment, that’s pretty much been my week since last Tuesday when I started with it, Monday night I could feel it starting in my throat.  Haven’t touched the Playstation 3, Xbox or that white thing (I think it’s called a Wii) under the TV for what seems like ages.  I might fire up the 360 later and have a go on Halo Wars seeing as Lovefilm have sent it out. 

I also need to find Top Gun on Blu Ray (my brother lent me it a few weeks ago and I seem to have misplaced it).  Really want to watch it and I know he’s going to want it back sooner or later

Well that was a trifle bizarre.

Felt dizzy, out of it and fuzzy headed on Thursday.  Came down with a full on cold on Friday, felt really bad, runny nose, cough, couldn’t concentrate.  Friday night was quite bad, took me a while to get to sleep.  Saturday morning I felt a little better.  Late Saturday night I got another runny nose and had a bit of a sneezing fit but had been fine for most of the day.  Could feel it moving to my chest and expected to wake up with a nasty cough this morning.

Woke up this morning feeling perfectly fine.  Haven’t had a single problem with my nose, being breathing through it all day, concentration levels are spot on.  I’ve had a bit of a headache this afternoon but nothing too serious. 

Where did it go!?

I’m fairly certain it wasn’t an allergic reaction, I can usually tell the difference – with the allergies I don’t get the accompanied fuzzy head feeling or concentration problems, just a streaming cold.

I’m really glad it’s gone, it means I can buckle down and get on with clearing tickets tomorrow morning, it also means I’m feeling much better, or at least I will be once the ibuprofen kicks in.

Now I know that there are literally millions of different strains of the virus (hence why there can’t be a cure) but I’ve never had one last this short an amount of time.  I know the Day/Night Nurse tablets helped me on Thursday afternoon and Friday, I also took them yesterday up until tea time where I didn’t bother with my last set of day tablets or the night tablets.

Today I’ve not used any at all.  Super duper. 

Just listed Sue’s old phone on ebay :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160316147439

Took me two attempts, my laptop BSOD’d the first time, possible hard disk fault (great, that’s all I need after this weekend’s fun and games with the new PC drives).  Ran it through some drive checks and it seems fine.  I want to write a blog post about my weight loss in a bit so its going to be a bit frequent in terms of twitter updates from me over the next few hours, sorry!

Great. 

Absolutely effing marvellous.  

It would appear that I’m developing a bout of Acute viral rhinopharyngitis.  Don’t get too worried though, it’s just the common cold (thanks Wikipedia).

I mean there’s enough of it going around at work at the moment, I can think of at least two people who are recovering from one and another who has just started.  It’s just one of those things.  No matter how careful you are to wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough, sneeze etc, the bloody thing just keeps on going.  

Felt completely out of it today.  Started with a headache (due to the radiator in the bedroom being on half the night – a problem I’ve now solved with the help of the handy twisty thing at the end), took some ibuprofen which solved that bit.  A few hours later I was feeling completely whacked and out of it at the same time.  My vision seemed weird and I couldn’t walk in a straight line.  I think this particular cold is targeting my ears and balance system.  Excellent, as if I wasn’t impaired enough where that was concerned (only one working eardrum, tumor when I was three in my left ear, eardum and three hearing bones removed).  

I hate the snotty nose part of a cold.  That stage where all it does is produce and produce and produce.  Once it’s stopped and you start getting better and you’ve just got the cough to take care of, I can handle that bit.  I just hate having a fuzzy head and a runny nose.  

Just in time for the weekend, at least I can rest up with no plans (so far) made, xbox and chilling out are on the menu.  Thank god my slanket arrived a few weeks ago :p

My new 1TB hard disk drives arrive tomorrow, that’s my evening sorted.  I’ve got to get the data off the old drives, install the new ones, reinstall windows on one of the slightly larger drives, move allsorts around, blah.  It’ll probably take me most of tomorrow night if not part of Saturday too depending on how quick the hard disk transfer rate is from the USB sata kit I have.  

I might be as well opening her up and plugging in direct to the motherboard, at least that way the data transfer will be quicker.  

Might also reinstall Vista on the laptop (yes, yes, third reinstall in as many months).  Sick of Windows 7.  Especially sick of IE8.  Windows 7 isn’t all that much different to Vista, it’s annoying that iTunes doesn’t auto start when I connect my iphone and it’s annoying that I have to use Chrome and Firefox because MS won’t let Beta users have access to IE8 RC1.  

Chrome is pretty nice, it just doesn’t work with a few sites, I have to use firefox for them.  The ones where neither work, I have to (try) to use IE8. 

Going to take a couple of night nurse tablets and call it a night, hopefully I won’t feel too bad in the morning.  I hope my body behaves itself and doesn’t start doing strange things in regards to weight/water retention between now and Saturday.  Last thing I need when I feel crappy is to have a shitty weigh in.  

One day left at work for the week, weekend is on the way.  Yay.