Roughly about a week ago or so now, I began my latest adventure or is that more of a miss adventure I dunno?,. Nothing wholesome or wonderful to report here😁,. uhuh Not for me,. But I found out this day, I’m about to begin my 4th, yes I will say this again for those at the back, my 4th Covid 19 infection.. I know full well there’s a 19 at the end there someplace, but I really would never suspected that thats the number of times your meant to aim for(or is that just me?)… It began last Tuesday morning, I had woken up with a burning sore sensation in my throat, a tickly cough and that general feeling of malaise,(why does this word always remind me of Mayonnaise, (swear I’m food obsessed.(FOD)😁 .. In the beginning i was none to sure quite what this body was cooking up for me this time, although deep down i knew already it wasnt going to be anything nice! ..
Just the day before, i had taken a walk down to my doctors on a whim, It had after all dawned such a perfect autumnal day,, The sky was Crystal blue and clear, the breeze still had the last of summers warmth about it,and I thought I should enjoy it while I still could(idiot go back, stay home,!!!!😁)..,.(but in my defence winter was coming soon!) . Plus i was In fact already quite late with handing in a weeks worth of home Blood pressure readings, therefore wanting to Make the most of the unexpected bonus weather, i took this opportunity, on what was most likely going to be one of the very last most beautiful September days ahead, to have a slow walk out.(I wished on reflection though I hadn’t 😁
Throughout the coming days and nights, (let’s not forget those nights!😳, I did my best to ignore the developing pesky cough, dripping nose and general feeling like HELL!, . Convincing myself if I kept on with my usual routine, it would go away and bother someone else, washing still blew on the line in the garden, I had wiped down woodwork, cleaned cupboards, cooked up a storm, disinfected anything that didnt move, choking not only myself with bleach fumes, hopefully the germs alongside it..my tiny home fast becoming a miasma of bleachy haze….in my mind if I didn’t sit still long enough I could do the impossible(out run it right?!)
By that Sunday though it had upped it’s game,(the battle had well and truly commenced) that tickly cough I set out ignoring huh!, had transformed itself now into a deep raspy chesty annoying Bark, it was infact quite frightening , how quickly that changed,, going from tinny to base in 0/60… And if the deep reverberating cough wasnt bad during the daytime, the nights when I even attempted to lay myself down on my pillow, (foolishly looking forward to some much needed rest, recuperation and escape!!, thats when the real coughing began in earnest,
By the following Monday morning early, after yet another whole night of doing my best common Grey seal impressions every few minutes, I resigned myself to phoning the doctor, when your lungs are rattling that bad that it wakes you up with a start, your looking about yourself wondering where the noise is coming from?, it is indeed time to call for help!!!, .. whether the gods had taken pity on me, or I just happened to have a brief spell of good luck(for a change) I will never know, but within minutes a cheery person on reception answered promptly, I managed to hold it together long enough to give out my date of birth and name before breaking into an ear splitting volley of sneezing,. Feeling quite sorry for myself I explained the nature of my germ infested illness, and that I suspected I was in mid warfare on a raging chest infection, the cheerful receptionist lady said she would have the doctor call me back, I flopped back upon my pillow fully expecting the doctor to be busy(it was a Monday after all) I thought in fact I wouldn’t hear anymore until much much later that day…
I staggered out of bed, fumbled across to the kitchen to make another coffee, this day I knew i needed all the help and plus caffeine I could get, my head by now swimming, it wasn’t just doing the backstroke though, .I swear my poor brain sloshed about in a whirlpool of Ectoplasm,…the same Ectoplasma fell like a waterfall from my nose, drool had dripped out the corner of my open mouth while I attempted sleep, forming something akin to one of those clear face masks around my chin, with the odd hair and budgie feather glued to it just for effect😁..
Although I felt shivery inside, my skin felt like a furnace to the touch, while I awaited the kettle, I walked across to the bathroom, grateful just for once, for icy cold water coming from both taps, I sloshed its coolness over my skin, revelling in its chill upon my hot red face and neck, I couldn’t enjoy it for long though as another fit of painful coughing quickly broke out, my ribs hurt, my back hurt and I was by now bored of the whole blooming thing…
My only saving grace was the numerous cups of scalding coffee I gulped down daily barely allowing time for it to cool even a degree or so, it soothed the scratchy hot feel in my throat, as well becoming a source of energy with its large quantities of heaped spoonfuls of honey, for once food was surplus to requirement, if I ate anything at all, it was mainly soup or of that consistency, . By the time I had washed up, made a coffee my phone was ringing, I was immediately glad that I at least smelt somewhat fresher, yeah I know I was only talking on the phone but it matters to me😁,. The doctor was very sweet, showing obvious concern, as I explained about the crackling, wheezing and explosive coughing, as if on queue another round of Barking began in the poor doctors ear…we talked about the copious amounts of gloop, she laughed kindly as I explained about the ectoplasm it being a far nicer word I thought than Mucus😒…it’s like Moist…just Grosse, we left off agreeing I probably needed of some form of antibiotics, problem being i am allergic to most forms…she looked online and finally decided on one I hadn’t tried as of yet, Doxycycline, this bright green little tablet was going to do one of two things, kill off the Germ I was harbouring deep inside or kill off me, of the two I knew which I preferred😁.
Who knew that being sick was going to be so bloody expensive though,. In this one week alone, I’ve had two bottles of cough syrup, two boxes of throat lozenges, four boxes of tissues, don’t get me started on the price of Manuka honey🙄, I figure it’s cost something in the region of over £100,. That’s without the added cost of Covid home test kits. Extra laundry needed, all I can say is its Good job my appetite has wained because I couldn’t afford to eat even if I had wanted to.
I’m still coughing heartily even after five days of the doctors magic green pills, I admit it does feel as though there has been some modicum of improvement, but it’s still nothing pleasant, my sides still feel bruised and my breathing is tight and uncomfortable but I will take any improvement, no matter how small..what was worse for me once again as it always is., it has to be the living by myself thing,. I’m not fond of it at the best of times, but when I feel ill there’s nothing but time as a reminder, quite frankly at some points while at its height I no longer gave a damn, I was passed caring, . On Wednesday night for example I couldn’t breathe properly, instead of normal deep breaths from my tummy region, each one was shallow and rattling, but despite this I no longer cared, it just didn’t seem to matter, I made a half hearted attempt at laying on my stomach, (this helps keep the lungs clear by the way. When exhaustion took me over and I fell asleep finally…throughout this happened a few times, and if it hadn’t been for the thought of leaving alone my Budgie Sage and my Rabbit Cinnie,I confess I wouldn’t have worried to much.
Sunday …Day 7
Yes I’m a week into this now,. Six days into my course of Antibiotics, my stomach is beginning to protest, but as I’ve only another day to complete the course I think it’s doable. One thing I had noted along side feeling terrible, I had unconsciously slipped back into my old spending habits, some things like cough syrup, tissues, and lozenges were a necessary evil, but I’m not so certain the hand warmers, socks, lampshade, Pill minders, throw could also be classed in that category😁, let’s face it I had fallen of the shopping ban waggon, not only had I fallen off though I found myself in danger of said waggon leaving me sprawling on the dust of consumer land for good…I had even over spent on my food shop budget, and I hadn’t done that in months,
If I’m being honest with myself, I understand why, I can spot my pitfalls and when I’m in the right frame of mind can easily avoid it, but I hadn’t been in my right frame of mind, in fact I’m not sure I was even living in my own head at times… During that week I often put things in the strangest places, one day attempting to place a jar of coffee on the kettle base, another time putting my bowl of chicken soup in fridge instead of the microwave, And have you ever tried cramming washing in your oven expecting it to wash? 😳, it doesn’t work!, Just so you know 😁. Alongside this temporary insanity, Depression came a calling, not having the energy to fight it off, I allowed it to wash over me, with all its usual twists and turns, the laying about, finding doing my routines not only hard but almost impossible, the worst was the over compensation, using shopping as a balm, this also doesn’t work, it never works, it’s just a temporary sticking plaster.
This will tell you how bad it was, I couldn’t even face looking at my bank statements, fearful of how much I had crept back into over indulgence,. I knew I would at some point have to brave it, I needed to know if I could cover my up coming commitments even.. For months now I had scrimped, scraped and made do, this had only further spiralled my mood further downward,, I berated myself terribly, I had in fact let myself down at the first tough bend in the road, now what to do?, My fuzzy head had already unknowingly lead me back onto a straight course, because for days now I had been listening to audio books on frugality, mainly because it expended no energy(I was well and truly all out of that😁), but it also occupied my mind while my body took on the long healing process,. With this it spurred my imagination once more, I knew full well once I felt better I could run after that bloody wagon and jump right back on, had I not succeeded once before? then I would again. It won’t be easy this time, but then what is?…
During the worst days of this illness, I had gone back to using my washing machine every other day instead of hand washing, it had been tough enough pegging washing out on the line, standing at the sink scrubbing and rinsing it in cold water, just was never going to happen, so I compromised with myself, I could do a load every other day on the fast wash, it wasn’t ideal but if I was ever goin to have any clean clothes, then it was a necessary must, it’s going to be hard returning to the old hand washing method once again, that is indeed going to prove devilishly hard, but with this electricity bill ever mounting I know it’s something I must indeed face… and like all my other challenges will… Take care folks and be careful out there.❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
My American Man In Purple Lace Corsets 